


Onryō

by FirebirdsDaughter



Series: Bouken Dreams and Nightmares - Works of GoGo Sentai Boukenger [2]
Category: GoGo Sentai Boukenger
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Gen, I promise, Stabbing, Strangulation, Violence, as in people injuring other people, for this story that is, i don't think i can call it 'graphic' but there is depictions of violence and injury in here, i mean you will notice there is a certain tag not on here, it's really only in the opening and then discussed later, just be aware of that, realised I should add original characters bc i did make up some people, stab wounds, the BAD kind I will not be responsible for anyone's gutter minds, there are other characters in this but they're kinda spoilery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 19:41:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16271021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FirebirdsDaughter/pseuds/FirebirdsDaughter
Summary: Satoru and Eiji abruptly come to their senses deep inside an unknown cavern, with no proper idea how they got there, and soon find Masumi severely wounded and nearly dead on the floor.And the evidence indicates they're the ones who did it.





	1. Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> This needs a better summary. Maybe. I dunno. I was tired. I was up too late last night and then slept too late.  
> Anyway, I just rewatched Boukenger, so Masumi is now here to almost tie with Keiichiro for number of times I've killed him (given my procrastination and spotty inspiration, two and three times is a lot for me, okay?).  
> One day, I swear to god, I will continue Death He Draws Near. I'm serious. I actually have a lot written for it, the issue is just that, well, none of it is the next chapter.  
> No idea how long this'll be, but it'll certainly be shorter than DHDN.  
> (I am also in the process of trying to work on You Can't Take The Sky From Me, it's just been aggressively slow going)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eyes open in the dark.

Awareness returned to Akashi in bits and pieces. He became conscious of a warm, salty, metallic smell that seemed to be floating in the air around him. His hearing came back next, and he heard something shuffling around just a little ways in front of him.

Then, a voice. “… Akashi?” It was one he knew.

“Eiji?” He blinked a few times, his vision finally coming back. Though the lighting in the cavern was very poor, he could clearly make out Eiji standing a couple paces away from him, Saguspear in hand, looking as confused as he felt. “I… What were we…?”

Eiji seemed to be just regaining his bearings as well, shaking his head out and frowning profusely. He squinted a bit at Akashi, trying to see him more clearly… Then froze, his expression morphing from one of mere bewilderment to utter horror. “Oi. Akashi. That’s…” He trailed off, pointing.

Akashi stared at him for a moment, then realised that Silver was pointing at his chest, and that his teammate’s hand was visibly trembling. Apprehensive of what had unnerved Eiji so much, he looked down at himself—and did a double take.

His hands were covered in blood.

One of them was clutching his SGS Survival Knife, which was also wet with blood. Examining his jacket also revealed a messy, stained red hand print on the front. With a yelp, he dropped the tool, stumbling backwards as if he could get away from his own appearance, only to trip over something on the floor at his feet. In their confusion and horror at the situation, neither he nor Eiji had thought to look all the way down. Taking a deep breath, Akashi forced himself to lower his eyes to the ground, silently wondering how this was going to get worse. It surpassed even his worst fears.

“Masumi!” The name came out as a chocked gasp. BoukenBlack lay close at his feet, frightfully still. Satoru didn’t so much kneel down as his knees gave out and gravity dragged him to the floor, landing with a horrible little splat in what could only be a pool of blood. Masumi was laying on his side, sprawled out like he’d fallen; closer inspection revealed that his right palm was smeared in blood, and a deep, ugly stab wound in his abdomen. Realisation made Akashi flinch back in shock at the same time Eiji flew to Masumi’s other side, grabbing Black’s shoulder and trying to rouse him.

The stab wound, bloodied hand, and the proximity to his position all seemed to indicate one thing—that the bloody handprint on his jacket was Masumi’s, and the same with the blood on his hands.

Which could only mean that **he** had stabbed Masumi.

Unbidden, his gaze wandered back to Black’s face—which he dearly hoped was only so pale because of the watery light of the cavern. Even in the poor light, however, he could see other injuries—scratches, a graze, a split lip, and more blood smeared around his mouth. As Eiji rolled Black on to his back, he noticed similar marks on the other side of their teammate’s face under the grime smeared across his cheek from the cavern floor.

Eiji started at something, and Akashi’s attention snapped back to him. Silver seemed to have been trying to check for a pulse while simultaneously keeping a hand pressed over the stomach wound—he’d pulled open the collar of Masumi’s jacket, but something he saw there had made him falter and stare. Akashi dragged himself back over, fighting the urge to vomit, to see what it was—and he, too, froze once more.

Masumi’s throat was marked by nasty bruises that looked frightfully like handprints.

Some parts of the marks were still deep crimson (so deep that it was alarming), but most of them were already a blue so dark it was nearly black. Then Akashi suddenly remembered that that had to mean damage to Masumi’s airways, and he tried to snap himself out of his grim trance to get Eiji’s attention—only to discover that Silver was still completely unmoving, his hand partially outstretched toward Black’s neck, presumably to check for a pulse, but that, too, merely hung trembling in the air.

“Eiji?” He could barely force his voice out, a breathless whisper in the almost darkness.

Silver stayed staring like he’d seen a ghost for a moment, then suddenly jerked his hand back, shaking is head. “I… I can’t.” He sounded scared—not like Eiji at all. “You… You do it.” Akashi was afraid to get close, too, but the possibility that Masumi was still alive outweighed his terror for the moment. Reaching over, his hand still slick with blood, he fumbled gently at Black’s jaw, seeking for a heartbeat.

It felt like the whole world was holding it’s breath—until he found one, and for a moment was so relieved he forgot about the rest of their circumstances, and he barely had the strength to gasp out “He’s alive!” loud enough for Eiji to hear; out of the corner of his eye, he saw Silver’s shoulders relax visibly, though not completely.

Then Satoru’s hand slipped and brushed the ground again, and he remembered the huge blood stain around them—Masumi might still have a pulse, but he’d lost a significant amount of blood, was probably losing more, and needed medical help immediately. Forcing himself not to think about the evidence that he was responsible for this, he looked back at Eiji. “We need to get help.”

Eiji’s expression looked like he was somewhere else entirely. “Help.” He repeated faintly—then, after a moment, snapped back to reality. “Help! Right!” He started to reach for the GoGo Changer, then remembered he was holding Masumi’s stomach closed, glancing back at Akashi frantically.

After a bit of equally frantic searching, Satoru found his accellular, flipping it open. “… No signal.” He realised in horror. “It’s not connecting.” Panic was rising again. Masumi didn’t have time for them to be fiddling around with electronics, trying to reach HQ. Taking a deep breath, he did his best to swallow the fear—he was BoukenRed, even under these circumstances, and he needed to be calm, especially with Masumi dying on the floor and Eiji looking like he was just a breath away from bursting into tears.

But he didn’t have Zubaan, couldn’t even remember how they’d gotten to this place, and was still struggling to keep his mind from dwelling on the fact that everything implied he’d stabbed his own friend. Eiji was gazing at him with the desperation of a man hoping for a miracle, but he couldn’t think of a single way he could possibly deliver one.

And then his accellular beeped.


	2. Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Light pierces the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, every time I reread this it feels janky, but I just can't figure out what to do about it, so here it is. Hope it's okay. No confidence right now, sorry.

“Chief!”

Sakura’s voice was a godsend. It was gravely and slightly garbled, but definitely her, coming out of the accellular speaker.

“Sakura!” Akashi half sobbed in utter joy just to hear it. Eiji almost smiled, though the horrified look that had come into his eyes when he’d found the bruises on Masumi’s neck was still there, and he couldn’t quite muster a happy expression fully.

“Chief?” Sakura said again, sounding both confused and relieved—he wasn’t sure if she was bewildered by his use of her name or something else. “What happened? Is everything alright? Where are you?” She said something else that they couldn’t quite hear through the spotty connection, and it didn’t seem like it was addressed to them anyway.

“We’re not sure where we are.” Akashi said quickly, suddenly worried the signal would drop again, finally finding something almost like his professional voice. “Silver’s with me, so is Black, but…” His mind raced for a moment, unsure of what he could say about the situation. He settled for the basics to make sure the most pressing info got across. “He’s wounded, Pink. Black’s badly injured. We’re doing what we can, but I don’t think he has much time.” He heard her sharp intake of breath on the other end.

They heard snippets of her talking to someone else again, and then her voice became clearer once more. “We have a general idea of your location—Black’s transformation was logged about two hours ago somewhere underground of our current position.” Satoru and Eiji exchanged glances, unsure if that was entirely comforting—there was a question of why Masumi alone had transformed. Sakura interrupted their worries. “But we do have to consider the possibility that you may have moved in the past two hours. Can either of you transform?”

Because Eiji still had his hands preoccupied putting pressure on Masumi’s wound, Akashi dragged himself to his feet, scrabbling with his accellular for a moment. He called the “Start up!” as loudly as he dared, and ran the roller down his arm.

Nothing happened.

“No luck,” He told Sakura, then kneeled back down; with possible rescue on the horizon, he could find some composure, something to focus one besides… He shook his head to scare those thoughts away for the moment, then looked back at Eiji. “We switch.” He said breathlessly. “You try.” Silver swallowed, nodding. Akashi set the open accellular on the ground beside him, pretending there wasn’t blood there, put his hands out, just over Eiji’s, and met his eyes, tacitly counting down—as fast as they could, Silver moved his hands away and Satoru pushed his down, praying that even in the quick moment Black hadn’t lost too much more blood.

Lurching to his own feet, Eiji tried starting up as well, but to no avail. Shaking his head to Akashi, he knelt down again to pick up the accellular and hold it up so they could still talk—and largely so it wasn’t sitting in the in the pool of Masumi’s blood. Satoru waited a moment to see if Silver would speak, but he didn’t. “Seems we’re disconnected,” He told Sakura instead, “We’ve barely got radio signal.”

She said something to someone else again, then came back on. “It’s okay. Keep this connection open—Blue thinks he and Makino-sensei can strengthen it and triangulate your position; right now it’s so weak that the coordinates are jumping around the map.” She paused for a moment, then added empathetically, “Just hang on, we’re coming for you.”

Akashi swallowed at the other, more difficult implications of that statement, but also nodded in acknowledgement, even though she couldn’t see him. “We’re counting on you, Pink.” He nodded for Eiji to set the accellular aside careful so that they couldn’t bump it at all, then turned his attention back to Masumi’s injuries. He was doing his best to stem the blood that was still slowly seeping from the wound, but they needed something more. Fortunately, Eiji was on the same wavelength, because Silver was already pulling his jacket off. Turning it inside out because of the waterproof exterior, he folded it up and set it over Akashi’s hands, pressing it down. When he thought his teammate was putting enough pressure, Satoru slipped his hands out, switching back.

They were silent for a spell. “… What…” Eiji’s voice surprised Akashi. Silver had his head down, looking at his hands pressing his jacket against Masumi’s wound rather than at Red. He was speaking softly enough that it was unlikely to be picked up by the accellular on the ground beside him. “… What do we tell them? About…” He jerked his head at Satoru a little, and it was obvious what he meant.

Akashi thought about it for a moment, then sighed deeply. “… The truth.” He replied finally. “That I…” Subconsciously, one of his now-freed hands wandered over to squeeze Masumi’s shoulder in a way that would probably have earned his arm a smack had Black been conscious.

“… It’s not just you.”

He looked sharply back at Eiji. “What?”

Silver swallowed loudly. “I… I think I’m the one who….” Through the veil of Eiji’s hair, Satoru saw his eyes flick toward the bruises on Masumi’s throat.

Akashi’s breath caught. It was a point he hadn’t considered in the haze of everything else—what part Eiji had played in whatever had happened. After all, they were both present and uninjured while Masumi was severely wounded, seemingly with intent to kill. He remembered Sakura saying that Masumi’s transformation had been logged—if Black had been in suit, it wouldn’t be unsurprising that it would have taken both of them to subdue him. However, them being uninjured meant that despite transforming, Masumi hadn’t fought back.

His racing thoughts ground to a halt when he heard a faint whimper, and realised Eiji’s shoulders had started to shake, his head bowing even further. Taking a deep breath to collect himself first, he reached over to gently lay a hand on Silver’s arm. “Eiji…” He started softly.

And then the wall busted open.

Surging to his feet, Akashi moved to shield both his teammates while Eiji—still keeping pressure on Masumi’s wound—angled his own body to cover Black as much as he could. They could see something moving in the settling dust.

“Chief!” Nastsuki’s head poked out of the cloud, followed by her arm as she waved—a little awkwardly because she was transformed and had activated the Shovel Scoops.

“Yellow!” It felt like every single bit of tension in Akashi’s body had released at the same time, and he collapsed back to the floor shaking and sending silent gratitudes to every any deity that came to mind.

“Ah! Masumi!” Natsuki cried worriedly, climbing through the hole she’d just made in the wall. She was closely followed by the other two, and all three of them undid their transformations as they hurried over.

Sakura stopped beside Satoru, kneeling down to check on him. He saw even her usually unflappable expression flicker when she took in his appearance. But the majority of his senses had returned with their arrival, and he shook his head at her. “Black first.” He grunted, accepting her arm to pull himself up, “He needs help.”

She nodded quickly, turning over her shoulder to call “Medical!” The SGS medical field team appeared through the rubble—two techs Akashi recognised and a younger man who had to be new—rushing over to relieve Eiji at Masumi’s side, stretcher at the ready. It wasn’t long before they had Black patched up as much as possible and loaded up, and started back out of the cave while the young one cleaned up behind them. Natsuki walked beside them, holding Masumi’s hand with just two fingers in order to keep out of the way. Souta and Sakura each set about helping Eiji and Akashi out as well.

Light hit Satoru’s face almost immediately, and far sooner than he would have expected—but GoGo Drill sitting at the entrance of the tunnel to the surface indicated that the team had created their own pathway in the interest of speed. As his eyes adjusted, he let Sakura guide him via her hand on his arm, silent and professional as always, which he was appreciating more than ever. Behind them, Souta was also quiet while assisting Eiji, though Blue’s brows were drawn tightly together in concern at the way Silver was sagging dejectedly against him.

As they stepped out onto the surface, Akashi still had to take a moment to let his eyes fully adjust—and even if they hadn’t, he still didn’t have the stomach to take command again. Fortunately, Sakura didn’t miss a beat. “Blue,” She ordered as they came out, “Take Black and the medical team back to HQ in GoGo Gyro.” Souta quickly deposited Eiji on a large rock, nodding in acknowledgement to Sakura and hurrying back toward his GoGo Vehicle, transforming again and climbing back to the cockpit.

“Wait.” The voice of one of the other medical techs made everyone but Eiji look up. “… Where’s Seisuke?” Akashi squinted around—the medics were already loading the stretcher into GoGo Gyro, but the younger tech was indeed missing. “Seisuke?”

“I’m here!” There was a little bit of scrambling, and then the young man—Seisuke—came back into view from the mouth of the tunnel. “I’m right here,” He panted, “Sorry!”

His teammate shook his head. “Keep up! We need you!” He grunted gruffly, jerking his head for the young man to get in. Seisuke hurried over, depositing the things he was carrying in Gyro’s hold and climbing in after them.

Natsuki, who was climbing out at the same time, paused and stared at him as he got in, then shook her head in confusion and jumped down. The medical team finished securing the stretcher, and he hold closed. Gyro restarted, pulling into a hover and then moving upward. Natsuki took a few steps toward her own GoGo Vehicle, then stopped and looked back up at Gyro.

Sakura helped Satoru over to sit down near Silver—noticing Natsuki frowning, she moved over to her. “… Yellow? What is it?”

Natsuki frowned even deeper, biting her lip. “He had two shadows.” She said, finally, pointing at where GoGo Gyro was disappearing. “Seisuke-kun had two shadows.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Logically, Masumi should be dead by now. But we don't go by logic here.  
> (Let's just pretend this is all happening faster than it reads? And that he's just bleeding **really** slowly?)  
>  In other news I apologise for the dumb poetic-ness of the summary. It just kind of... Happened.


	3. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in apparent safety, questions must finally be asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, rather a bit happens in this chapter. I hope it's not too confusing.  
> Pretty much everything you need to know about the Chinvat Bridge is in the chapter--it's literally exactly as described. There is no actual legend about rings being made from any part of the bridge, but I wanted the Precious in this story to be rings, so... I kinda made them up, and connected them to an actual mythological thing.  
> Another thing I really should have established sooner is that this takes place post-series. Certain events may or may not be related. Being vague is better than that other thing.

“Black-kun has been transferred to the ICU.” Mister Voice informed them as soon as they were back in the isolated section of the SGS Museum. “His condition is still critical.” Folding his cartoon stick arms, he looked pointedly at Satoru and Eiji, “In the meantime, Red and Silver-kun should also get examined.” Then, because he clearly couldn’t help himself, “I assuming you didn’t find the Ring.”

It took Akashi a moment to remember what the commander was talking about—then it came back to him. They’d been in the area in searching for a Precious; a ring allegedly made from a piece of the Chinvat Bridge, the Zoroastrian bridge to the Underworld. It was one of three, actually—two of them were already in SGS’s possession, but a rumour had surfaced about the last one being noticed by spelunkers in a rural cave system. Mister Voice had deployed the team to secure it, and they’d broken into two groups. Sakura had taken Natsuki and Souta to interview the people who claimed to have seen it, while he, Eiji, and Masumi had gone to scout out the caves. He remembered Sakura contacting them to say that the interview had been unhelpful, as the explorers memories where mysteriously hazy about what they had seen, and they had been about to head back out when…

“Are you listening?” Mister Voice’s shrill tones interrupted his attempts at recollection. “I said you should get examined!”

Eiji had already ignored the command, just dragged himself silently over and collapsed on the couch, head dropping into his hands. Akashi, on the other hand, made it all the way over to lean heavily on the table, grunting “We’re fine.” dismissively at the screen.

“That’s for me to decide.” Makino had entered the room, and at his side was doctor SGS had put in charge of the general medical care of the Boukenger project—a tall, angular woman with lines in her face and sharp features, who had hardly changed in two years aside from a few new grey hairs. She pushed her cat’s-eye glasses up her thin nose with her thumb, depositing her bag on the stool beside her and giving Akashi a judgemental look. “And here I thought I was going to be free of you when you went to space.”

Souta jumped a little in surprise. “Ah! Nakajima-sensei! What are you doing all the way up here?”

“Because I guessed—quite rightly, it seems—that neither Akashi-san nor Takaoka-san would show up in the Medical Wing.” She snapped her bag open, turning smartly back to Satoru. “Sit.” She ordered, “Before I make you.”

He decided it was best to obey.

Nakajima-sensei completed both check ups with speed and professionalism—aside from having to pause and drag Eiji upright on the couch by both his arms. In the end, however, even she was forced to give them both a mostly clean bill of health; their only injuries seemed to be that Akashi’s shoulder ached when he moved it a certain way, and Eiji had a scratch on the side of his neck—right above the artery, but nowhere near deep enough to be dangerous. She wrapped Satoru’s shoulder a compress and gave Silver a bandage, then started to pack up the rest of her tools.

“That seems to be it, aside from a few bumps and bruises.” She told Mister Voice, who had been floating onscreen mumbling to himself the entire time. She closed the bag, turning briefly to Sakura. “Make sure he ices that shoulder.” Pink nodded, and stepped out of the way when the doctor turned to go.

“Wait.” The word dragged itself out of Akashi like a guttural groan, but he knew he had to say it—putting it off any further could be disastrous. Shifting slowly to his feet, he collected his bloodstained jacket from where it had been hung over the railing, and found out his survival knife amongst the pile of loose things collected from the cavern. Stepping over to Nakajima, he held the jacket and knife out with one hand, extending the other as well. “… Check the blood on these.” He continued grimly. “I…” He swallowed, steeling himself to say the rest. “… I think it’s Black’s.”

Silence. Four pairs of eyes stared at him in horrified bewilderment.

Nakajima-sensei, one of the three to remain impassive—though Voice’s lack of reaction likely had more to do with his status as a computer image, and Eiji was still beyond reacting to anything—wasted no time in snapping her rubber gloves back on. Locating a large plastic bag, she wrapped his jacket and the knife in it, then took out a couple cotton swabs and took samples of the blood on his hand, dropping them into a smaller bag. Gathering it all up, she gave a curt nod and made her exit—perhaps a little faster than she would have otherwise.

The quiet continued, even long after they heard the elevator buzz away. Eventually, Makino-sensei broke it. “Akashi-san…” He said slowly, like he was trying to decide what words to use. “… You… Do you mean that…”

He knew he had to say it. But saying it aloud made it real—and more than anything, Akashi wanted it not to be real. “… I believe I may have stabbed Masumi.” The words left a bad taste in his mouth; it didn’t sound like his voice, either. It was emotionless, monotone. Dead.

“… N…” The small, scared voice was, shockingly, Souta’s. “… No… Chief, you would never…!” Blue stumbled over to grab Akashi by the arm, shaking him. “… You would never do that! Right?!” He glanced around at the others, then turned and rushed over to Eiji, seizing Silver’s shoulder, too. “Right? That’s not what happened! Right, Eiji?” But Eiji merely jerked away from him and curled further into himself. “Eiji!”

“… The truth is…” Akashi informed them falteringly, “… Neither Eiji nor I can recall what happened.” He reached up to clutch his own chest for some imaginary comfort, looking worriedly over Eiji before going on. “And… He thinks he may have been responsiblefor the bruises on Masumi’s throat.”

Sakura leaned on the back of a chair, her fingers curling. “No… This can’t be…”

“Unfortunately,” Mister Voice put in solemnly, “It seems to be a possibility.”

“Sir!” Makino-sensei exclaimed.

“I do not mean they did it willingly.” Snapped the commander. “But we are still attempting to ascertain the exact powers of the Rings. It’s not impossible that the Precious may somehow have controlled or effected their actions.” Voice put nonexistent hands on nonexistent hips. “Not even Voice is cold enough to think that Red-kun and Silver-kun would hurt Black-kun by choice.”

Movement in the corner made everyone turn. Natsuki, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, had gotten up from her chair and walked over to the stairs. She paused there. “… Chief…” She mumbled, sounding on the verge of tears. “… Ei-chan… Masumi…” Her hand clenched on the railing and her shoulders tensed. “… Unforgivable.” She disappeared further into the base.

“Natsuki!” Sakura started after her, but Satoru touched her arm, shaking his head, and she stepped back.

Akashi took a deep breath, trying to get back into command mode. “Nakajima-sensei can help the science team investigate those items and Masumi’s injuries.” He looked at Sakura. “Pink, for the time being, you’re in charge. See what you can find out about this incident and the Chinvat Rings, or anything else related.”

“I’ll keep analysing the two we have.” Makino-sensei declared. “I’ll update you all if I find anything.”

Satoru nodded to him. “In the meantime…” He sighed again, frowning deeply and glancing back at where Eiji was still unresponsive. “Silver and I will isolate ourselves.”

“Chief-”

Akashi held up a hand to quiet Souta’s protest. “We have to be certain that the effect isn’t ongoing or episodic. If we’re still under it’s influence… Until we know more, we can’t risk attacking any of the rest of you, too.”

“Cheif Akashi is correct.” Voice said. “It’s best for your safety and theirs.”

The logic was too good to argue with, so no one else said anything as Satoru crossed over and heaved Eiji up, pulling Silver’s arm over his shoulders and mostly carrying him back to the elevator. “We’ll keep in touch!” He promised as the doors closed.

The room continued to be quiet for a while, as Makino-sensei slipped back to his office and the other two tried to get their bearings. Finally, Sakura drew herself up, turning to Sakura. “Regroup and liaise with the forensic and medical teams to investigate the incident and gather information regarding the Chinvat Rings.” She ordered with just an edge of desperation, then snapped her fingers where Akashi hadn’t. “Attack!”

* * *

Akashi had managed to drag Eiji most of the way toward the currently unused section of the dorms—having stopped only to wash the blood off—when Silver abruptly broke free of him, lurching over to collapse against the wall in the empty hallway.

“Eiji-”

“… I can’t.” The words were a harsh whisper, barely audible. Silver clutched at his head again, shrinking against the wall. “I… I can’t…”

Akashi took a deep breath, kneeling down to get closer. “Eiji, it’s okay.” He spoke slowly to try and keep his voice reasonably calm, reaching out to lay a hand on Silver’s arm.He had to stay strong. One of them had to hold it together. “The team will figure it out. It was probably the effect of a Precious-”

“And what if it’s not?!” Eiji snarled, suddenly much louder. He jerked away from the touch, staggering to his feet and stumbling a few steps away. “… What if it’s not?” Akashi rose to his feet slowly, watching his teammate’s back cautiously. Eiji’s hands were clenched into fists at his sides. “… You know this isn’t the first time I’ve attacked someone.” He growled. “What if I…”

So that was it.

Akashi considered for a moment, then squared his shoulders, marching over and grabbing Eiji by the arms, turning him around to face him. “Eiji. Eiji, look at me.” He waited for Silver to do so—and when he didn’t back down, his friend eventually looked up at his face, though he still wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Listen to me. It wasn’t just you. Whatever this was, it effected me, too. It’s not related to your Ashu blood. Understand?” Silver hesitated, his face still twisted with doubt. Satoru’s hands tightened on his arms. “Understand?” He asked again, more forcefully. At last, Eiji nodded, though it was almost reluctant. “Good.” Heaving a sigh, Akashi stepped back, releasing him. “For now, all we can do is wait and count on the others.”

“You think so?”

Both of them turned to look down the hall sharply for the one who had snuck up on them. “You’re…” Satoru paused, briefly searching his memory, “… Seisuke-san, right?”

The young medical tech smiled warmly, crossing over to them, hands in his pockets. “So I’ve been told.”

“What are you doing here?” Akashi asked, “We’re-”

“I know.” Seisuke told him. “I heard from Mister Voice. But he thought it would be a good idea to have a medical officer around just in case. It could be bad if something did happen and you couldn’t get help in time.” He saw their expressions. “Don’t worry. I may not be one of you guys, but I am trained for the field, too. If things look bad, I can get out of the way.”

Satoru and Eiji exchanged glances, hesitating, but eventually Akashi, nodded. “Very well.” Then he gave the young man a questioning look. “What did you mean before?”

“Simply that there is something you can do.” Seisuke replied, taking his hands out of his pockets to fold his arms. “We could do out own investigation. Go back to the scene. After all, you two are the only major witnesses. It might be possible to figure out what happened by working through what you remember from the beginning. You may find bits and pieces come back. It’s worth a try; do what you can with what you have.”

Akashi considered the concept. The idea of going back anywhere near the place made his stomach drop—a dread so great he hadn’t considered it before. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to remember, afraid neither of them would like what they found—but solving the mystery also promised closure of some kind.

And a chance to keep it from happening to someone else.

He looked over at Eiji, raising an eyebrow in question. Silver was still visibly distressed, but his thoughts seemed to be going the same way as Satoru’s. Gritting his teeth, his teammate nodded back. Akashi clapped a hand on his shoulder firmly, looking back to Seisuke, who had returned his hands to his pockets.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

 

“Makino-san.”

The professor jumped a little when a video call popped up on his screen. Pausing in his inspection of the two Rings, he twirled his chair around to answer. “Nakajima-sensei! What is it?” He frowned. “No way even you could have done a DNA test that quickly.”

She shook her head. “Of course not. Even with Inou-san’s DNA on file, it takes time to extract and verify cleanly. However…” She paused to take a deep breath, the lines in her face becoming much deeper when she frowned. “Makino-san, it… It’s likely it will be a match. It’s definitely the same blood type, and AB is so rare that almost confirms it. On top of that, the shape of the wound matches his knife.”

Makino dropped his head into his hand, rubbing his temple. “Oh dear…”

Nakajima’s expression only darkened, however, as she flipped further through the files he could see on her desk in the video capture. “Oh, it gets worse. We checked the bruises on Inou-san’s throat—not only do they match the dimensions of Takaoka-san’s hands, but we found a clear fingerprint.” She dropped the sheets on desktop and leaned back in her seat, scowling. “This just got complicated.” He nodded unhappily. “What do you think?” She asked. “Should we tell them?”

“… No, not yet.” He decided after a moment. “Wait until the DNA test comes back. Even if it’s just the final nail, we want to have all the facts before we dive in.” He bit his lip. “… How is Masumi-kun?”

Here brows knit together sharply. “His vitals are still weak and he can’t breathe on his own, but he’s no worse, exactly. Even if his condition isn’t declining, however, it’s also not getting better. If it doesn’t start to improve soon… We could end up even deeper in the woods. He lost a great deal of blood, and aside from the stab wound and the damage to his oesophagus, there’s also other internal damage from other physical trauma.” She let out another heavy sigh. “We’re doing what we can, but… That may not be enough.”

Makino-sensei’s mouth pressed into a grim line. “It has to be.” He said softly. “It has to be. If… If we lose Masumi now, like this…” He gripped the arm of his chair so tight his knuckles turned white. "… I don’t know if we could ever really recover.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer, I am not actually a medical professional, so I'm kinda generalising the actual medical stuff... Hopefully it's mostly believable.  
> Also poor Eiji. TT.TT Yeah, that's why he seemed like he was taking it so much harder than Akashi. Part of it's Akashi's 'I must be BoukenRed' personality, but I also assumed it would be a rough time for Eiji given the whole Ashu blood thing.  
> And now Natsuki's mad, too. ^^ Those responsible should watch their backs.


	4. Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes remembering makes one wish to forget again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Could this be the second non-oneshot fic I ever complete? Impossible! Me? Finish something? Apparently, it's more likely than you'd think!  
> We're kinda getting there. ~~This chapter is a little awkward, I have trouble with bridges (metaphorical ones)—which is why this chapter is, well, shorter~~. But stuff should start picking up soon. Lots of Eiji and Satoru angsting it up here. Perhaps being a little too angsty. Seisuke trying his best to be supportive. Maybe. I'm not telling if he is or not.  
>  UPDATE: Mistakes, and edits, were made! I have added a section that was originally part of the next chapter to this one, and it came out a bit better! Hooray!  
> NOTE: The Pair Dadeni is also exactly as described, a magical item from an old Irish myth. It's literally a large cauldron that could raise the dead when bodies were put into it. It was eventually destroyed during a massive battle, which is why I only mentioned a piece of it.

The cave was far too peaceful for being the starting point for such a painful tale.

Satoru tried to seek out the place they’d been standing when everything had gone fuzzy, while Eiji lingered apprehensively by the wall and Seisuke watched with a vaguely concerned expression. He found a spot that seemed right, setting his feet and gazing around the cave.

“… We were going to regroup with Pink.” He said slowly. “And then…”

“… Headache.” Eiji grunted quietly, making the other two look over at him. “I… I remember having a headache.”

“What sort of headache?” Seisuke asked curiously.

Eiji frowned, tilting his head in to his hand. “It… It felt like it was… Swallowing my head.”

Akashi nodded in agreement. He remembered that, too, a steadily increasing pain that had started at the base of his skull and continued growing. He remembered Masumi had started toward the entrance, poked fun at them when they hadn’t immediately followed—but then things went cloudy, and it felt like there were pins in his temples. Letting out a huff of frustration, he cast about the cavern again, reaching out a hand as if he could grab the memory right out of the air…

… _Masumi paused and looked over his shoulder when they didn’t come even after his teasing. Calling their names—their codenames—he moved back over to them, frowning. When they still didn’t move, his expression started to become concerned, reaching out his hand, the worry creeping into his voice, too._

_Satoru’s bones were freezing. There was something icy crawling down his spine from the base of his skull through the rest of his skeleton. He couldn’t move—it was like his nerves weren’t connecting. The pain in his head was either fading or becoming so intense he couldn’t even comprehend it anymore, but it felt like he was diminishing with it. The cold continued to spread, icicle claws sinking deep into his chest… His last bit of sense was a desperate desire for Masumi to stay away—he didn’t know why._

_Masumi’s hand touched his elbow. And his other arm flashed out and struck his teammate hard across the face_.

Akashi jolted back with a yell, slamming his back into the wall. He felt a hand on his arm, and immediately leapt away from it, nearly smacking Seisuke in the face with his flailing, had the medical tech not deftly ducked at the last moment.

“Akashi-san!” The young man yelled, grabbing him be the shoulder to hold him still. “Akashi-san! It’s okay, it’s okay! You’re here! You’re here.” After a few moments of deep breaths, Satoru got his bearings again. Seisuke was beside him, hand on his arm, looking vaguely alarmed. Eiji was also close by, still looking haunted, but also equally worried.

He tried to focus, return himself to the present—but the look of shock, terror, and betrayal on Masumi’s face after being knocked to the ground with a bloodied lip by one of the few people he’d ever managed to accept was burned into his retinas. As a child Masumi had spent years being mistreated and abused by the closet thing he had ever had to a team. It had taken close to a year for him to become truly comfortable with the Boukengers, and Akashi knew the trauma of that history was still there, however hard Black tried to hide it; being hit by Satoru, someone he should have been able trust would never hurt him—not just as a leader but as a friend—might have done irreparable damage.

Reaching back to stable himself on the wall, Akashi nodded to Seisuke that he was calmer, and the young tech released his shoulder. “… I hit him.” He said, finally. “I… I hit him.” Another realisation came to him. “… He’s never going to trust me again.” Masumi had more than forgiven him for the incident with Pachacamac and the jewels—a huge mess that endangered the whole planet—but for some reason, this personal, more intimate transgression felt drastically different. Felt that there were a very real possibility that a single punch had shattered the fragile trust he’d managed to foster between them. Assuming Masumil lived… He stopped the thought there. If he thought about that, he’d break completely.

“Don’t say that.” Seisuke said gently, but also firmly, interrupting his regrets. “From what I’ve seen, your bonds aren’t the type to break that easily.” The young man looked over at Eiji just as seriously. “Any of them.”

The pointed remark made Silver scowl slightly and turn away, walking across the cave to the mouth of one of the tunnels leading further below ground, punching the wall so hard his hand smarted. It had only been because of the other Boukengers he’d even started to fully come to terms with his father’s death—and before then, he’d known it was Gai who had actually done the deed. When he’d attacked Akashi, he’d been able to stop himself. But this… He’d felt like he was wandering through a haze every since the moment when he’d reached toward Masumi’s neck to check for a pulse only to see the bruises—and was suddenly subjected to a terrifying memory of his own hands wrapped around his teammate’s throat. It had been just a flash, but had been too realistic for him to risk putting his hand anywhere near the same place again.

And the most frightening thing about the vision had been that Masumi wasn’t resisting at all.

He hit the wall again, scraping his knuckles on the stone. In this, he had no one to blame but himself. Gritting his teeth, he leaned his forehead against the cave wall, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to push the darker thoughts from his mind…

… _Masumi gripped handfuls of of his jacket, hands banging against his chest, his face full of desperation and panic. He said something, shouted it, but his voice sounded distant, the words unintelligible. Pleading filled BoukenBlack’s eyes, his knuckles turning white as his fists clutched the fabric tighter._

_He was so cold. His limbs were rigid and numb—it was like the electricity in his brain was completely dead. Like he was dead. He felt himself smile, but something seemed off—it was wrong outwardly, too, because Masumi’s eyes widened, his expression becoming horrified. His arm raised against his will, finding purchase on his teammate’s shoulder, squeezing it for a moment… Then he was shoving Masumi, hard enough that Black was slammed against the wall behind, looking truly terrified. He was laughing, a deep, unnatural chuckle, when he took a step forward and Black pressed back against the stone, his face settling between scared and despairing._

_And then a handful of gravel flew toward his face, forcing him to duck. He looked back up just in time to see Masumi disappear into the darkness of the tunnel._

Eiji didn’t yell, or make a single sound. He stumbled back in horror, rooted to the spot for a moment, eyes wide. Masumi had tried to say something to him, but he couldn’t recall the words at all—only the look of fear that had accompanied them. He clutched his head, wanting more than anything to shut the intruding memory out, to reject that image of himself enjoying Black’s terror, but the picture refused to go away.

“Eiji!” He whirled around to find Seisuke beside him now, while Satoru was making his own slow way over across the cave. “Eiji?” Red asked again, sounding more worried still.

Eiji swallowed the new dryness in his throat, looking between them. After a moment, he found his voice again. “That way.” He grunted, pointing down the tunnel that his recollection had shown Masumi fleeing down—fleeing from him. “He went that way.”

Seisuke stepped up beside him, squinting into the dark. Pausing for a moment, the young man turned and looked over his shoulder uncomfortably, looking suspiciously around at the rest of the cave. When he finally looked back at them, however, his expression was impassive again. “Then we presume so did you two.” He said, digging his hands even deeper into his pockets. “And so do we.” He nodded for them to go. Retrieving a light, Akashi stepped in front, going forward a few paces, then checking to be sure Eiji was following—Silver’s steps were slow and reluctant, but he still fell in behind Satoru. Seisuke brought up the rear, taking one last moment to check the cave again, muttering beneath his breath—then he hurried after them.

* * *

Sakura found Natsuki in the hall outside of Masumi’s room in the Medical ICU, standing with both palms pressed against the window. “Natsuki?” Yellow didn’t even look up. “I… I wanted to ask you something. If you have a moment.”

Natsuki still didn’t turn, but she softly mumbled, “Natsuki has a moment.”

Sakura stepped up beside her, looking through the glass at Black, with far too many needles and things in him for her taste, a machine breathing for him through his neck because the rest of his airway had been too damaged and delicate for a breathing tube. With the dirt wiped off and his other hurts cleaned and bandaged, his face looked illogically peaceful in unconsciousness for his life hanging in the balance.

Chasing her thoughts away from the worst, she took a deep breath and forced her head to turn back to look at Yellow. “You said that Seisuke-san had ‘two shadows.’ What did you mean?”

Natsuki shrugged. “Natsuki isn’t sure.” She said quietly. “It might have been nothing.”

“But it could also have been something. If it bothered you enough to mention it… You’re the one of us who has the best senses for these things. You should trust them.” Yellow was quiet for a bit, her fingers curling a bit, leaving smeared prints on the glass, biting the inside of her cheek. Sakura pressed on. “Did you feel like there was something wrong with Seisuke-san?”

But Natsuki shook her head, pressing her lips together and frowning. Finally, she turned her head and met the Sub Chief’s eyes. “No.” She said. “Natsuki felt like… Felt like there was someone else there… Someone who wasn’t supposed to be.”

Sakura stared at her.

* * *

Makino-sensei glanced continuously between the two Rings in the scanner and his screen, frowning deeply. So far, he had been unable to detect anything that justified the Hazard Level of five hundred fifty—never mind anything that would explain Akashi and Eiji attacking Masumi. It was possible the effects could only be properly explored when the Rings were worn, but the risk of doing that was far too high; so instead, he found himself flipping through the the different analyses he’d done, staring at each result like he expected it to change.

A light flickered. For a fraction of a second, he felt a hand on his arm—ice cold and light as a cloud.

He flinched quickly away from the sensation, casting about the room. Finding no one, he swallowed nervously. “… Imagination. Just my imagination.” He turned back his screen to the screen, looking again at the graph on it. He was almost clicked away again, then stopped, frowning deeper and leaning closer.“… Electromagnetic… Field…?” His gaze traveled back to the Rings, sitting innocently on the scanner bed. “… Oh.” He said suddenly, jumping to his feet in alarum. “Oh… Oh no.” He rushed from the room.

Standing beside his desk, a shadow watched him go.

* * *

Sakura and Natsuki returned to the break room to find Souta waiting, going through files on his computer. He looked up when they entered, closing the computer and meeting them at the table. “Any luck?” Sakura asked, but he was already shaking his head.

“I checked back with the spelunkers,” He told her, “But they didn’t describe anything like what Eiji and Chief experienced. Their only memory issues were being unable to recall where they saw the Ring. And, well…”

“None of them attacked each other.” Pink finished sombrely. Blue nodded.

Natsuki’s hands balled into fists again, grabbing handfuls of her skirt. “… Unforgivable.” She murmured under her breath again.

Sakura frowned, opening her mouth to ask what Yellow meant when Makino-sensei burst into the room, nearly collapsing onto the table, gasping like he’d run a marathon.

“I know!” The professor squawked, then had to breath again for a few moments before his voice worked once more. “I know what the Rings do!”

Everyone started to attention. They all tried to ask at once, but he just shook his head and gestured for them to follow. Helping him along, they headed back to his office, depositing him in the chair, then crowding around behind him as he rolled back over to the desk, all three peering at the screen.

“Is that… An Electromagnetic radiation reading?” Souta asked, squinting at the computer.

Makino nodded. “That’s exactly what it is. Now, at first glance, it’s nothing out of the ordinary for a Precious to be giving off energy, and this reading doesn’t seem notable. However! If you know what you’re looking at…” With a few taps, the graph changed to a computer rendered image of the two Chinvat Rings, along with a visual of the radiation around them—a slowly shifting, multicoloured spherical shape that was mostly circular, save for a single needle-shaped point on each one. Makino sat back. “I’ve only ever seen this specific EMF frequency once before—when you brought in the Pair Dadeni piece; it’s the same field as the one that was around the cauldron shard and the spirits it was raising.”

“The cauldron that could raise the dead… You mean…” Sakura muttered, putting the pieces together. “… Ghosts?”

Makino-sensei nodded grimly at them once more. “The Pair Dadeni’s power was weakened when it was destroyed, so all it was doing was raising mindless shadows, poor reflections of the deceased. But this field is significantly stronger.” He looked down at the two Rings on the scanner. “Not to mention more stable.”

“The Chinvat Bridge is the bridge all souls must cross to reach the Underworld…” Souta mused. “So… Is it possible that the Rings are a connection to the land of the dead as well?”

“And unlike the Bridge, they’re unguarded.” Sakura agreed. “If the connection goes both ways, there’s no telling what they could allow through… Or…” Realisation hit her. “Or… Have already allowed through.”

“But Chief and Eiji didn’t have the Ring with them. They didn’t even find it.” Souta pointed out.

Sakura folded her arms, thinking for a moment. “They also didn’t show any signs of unusual behaviour since we found them… But…” Her head snapped around to look at Natsuki. “Seisuke-san.” Souta and Makino both looked confused. “When we were leaving,” Pink explained quickly, “Yellow said that she felt something unusual about Seisuke-san. That field medic who came on six months ago,” She added, when Makino still seemed bewildered. She glanced back at Natsuki. “You said it felt like there was someone else there? Someone who ‘wasn’t supposed to be’?”

Natsuki frowned a bit, but nodded in agreement. “He had two shadows.” She repeated. “Natsuki only saw it for a second, but it seemed like one of them was different than the other.”

Souta was catching on. “So… If we assume that… Maybe Chief and Eiji did come into contact with the Ring, or got close to it somehow, and something used it as a channel… It controlled them, and then somehow… Switched to Seisuke-kun when he came in with the rest of the field team.”

Sakura chewed her lip. “We need to find Seisuke-san.” She announced, tapping both her teammates on the shoulder. “Let’s go.” They rushed out.

Makino waved after them, then turned his attention back to the computer. “Let’s see what we can’t…” He froze. The points sticking out of the Rings’ spherical energy fields had shifted slightly from where they had been before. Frowning, he reached over and took the edge of the tray, turning it slightly so that the Rings moved, watching the screen. No matter how he moved them, they kept pointing in the same direction—the far corner of the room. He let go of the tray, moving his hand back to his lap, and sitting very still for a moment. After a while, one of the points moved, sliding over to point towards… Another spot in the room. After alittle more waiting, it moved to pointing right next to him, the pointy part getting steadily slightly larger. A cool wind stirred by his shoulder again.

“I’m an idiot.” He whispered. “It wasn’t my imagination…” He twirled the chair around, looking around the room. “That’s why the fields are so stable… You’re already here.”

* * *

In the darkness, a stone began to crack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~I am so sorry. That ending... Is so bad. It's awful. I'm so sorry.~~  
>  In other news, I'm sure people ~~are starting~~ can to see where this is going. ^^ So please, ignore the bad ending of this chapter, focus on the first two thirds, and we'll be along just fine.  
>  That's... Assuming the first two thirds are any good. Or if I'm even capable of judging the quality of my own writing.  
> I am still sorry about the really clunky descriptions regarding the thing going on w/ the Rings. Hopefully it got across!  
> But regardless. Onward!


	5. Seeking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is seeking. It's just not all of them may like what they find.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natsuki is showing off her senses again, Masumi is still critical, Sakura has a lot on her plate, Souta is trying to keep up, and Eiji and Akashi are angsting. Though, admittedly... That might be justified. Oh yeah, and that stone is still cracking. That might be a problem at some point. Or maybe it's not and it's just some random pebble ( ~~yeah, like anyone would believe that~~ ).  
> In other news, I don't know if Nobuyuki is a first name or a surname in this. It kinda sounds like both.  
> Also, please forgive any typos. I may or may not have written some of this when I should have been sleeping.  
> (Really should just put that as a disclaimer on all of my work...)

“According to records, this is where Masumi transformed.” Akashi told the other two, stepping out from yet another tunnel into another reasonably open cave. Eiji came in behind him, and Seisuke came last, checking over his shoulder repeatedly like he expected someone to be there.

They had been haunted en route by faint visions and whispers of hunting and chasing their own comrade through the maze of tunnels their eyes growing steadily readjusted to the darkness along the way, but nothing quite as concrete as the first bouts of remembrance. Akashi was wondering just how much longer the grace period was going to be.

“Do you think he figured something out?” Seisuke asked, coming further in himself to stand beside Satoru. “Or maybe he was trying to telegraph his location to the rest of the team?”

“It could be either.” Akashi replied. “If-” He stopped himself, then tried to reconsider his words, “Until he wakes up, we can’t ask him.” Seisuke nodded vaguely, continuing to look around, hands still deep in his pockets.

Eiji walked off a few paces away, sighing deeply. The place did look vaguely familiar, like something from a long-ago dream, or a pictured he’d only looked at once years ago. He pressed his fingers hard to his temples, squeezing his eyes shut. He felt a cold, creeping sensation at his back, like an icy breeze and had the distinct sense that someone was standing directly behind him—though whether it was merely anxiousness at the atmosphere or a manifestation of his own guilty conscience, he didn’t know. Desperate to dispel the feeling anyway, he turned around, throwing out an arm just to be certain, to push away the darkness…

… _The flat side of Masumi’s SurviBlade stopped just a hair’s breadth from his head. Tilting it to look, he could see Black’s arm trembling, sense the panic radiating from him. His head twitched back around to look directly into his teammate’s helmet, meeting a gaze he could distantly feel piercing out from behind it._

_They stayed frozen there for a while, until Masumi lowered the weapon abruptly, letting out a choking sound and dropping his transformation. Black almost collapsed into him, throwing up a hand to grab a fistful of his jacket just in time to balance himself, head bowed._

**_I can’t!_ ** _It seemed to be the first time he’d heard Masumi’s voice in years. It cracked and pitched, and sounded like it was coming from very far away._ **_I’m so sorry…! I can’t…!_ **

_And then he sucker punched Black in the stomach. That time, however, the other Boukenger refused to let go of his jacket, dragging himself back up by Eiji’s shoulders, lifting his head to speak again, but the words were drowned out again by the consuming, icy numbness coursing through his body. With Masumi’s face turned upward now, though, the dim light from some small crack leading outside touched upon it, and there was something glistening on his teammates’s cheeks that made his face twist into another evil grin…_

“… He’s… Crying.” Eiji’s voice surprised him as well, the words bursting from him unbidden. When Seisuke and Akashi looked over at him, his expression was one of bewilderment as well. Slowly, he pulled himself together, meeting their gazes with unmasked agony. “… He’s crying.”

* * *

“… Masumi is crying.” Souta glanced over at Natsuki. They were waiting in Medical for the other two field medics who had gone with them in the hopes that they would know something about Seisuke’s whereabouts, and for efficiency’s sake the entrance to the ICU was near the entrance of the whole Medical Wing, so he and Yellow had made the short trip over to check on Masumi. When questioned about his condition, however, Nakajima-sensei’s mouth had pressed into a line, and she’d only said they were doing all they could. Black certainly didn’t look any better, and Souta would go as far as say he was worse—definitely paler. But Natsuki was standing close to the glass, looking intently at her partner’s face. He walked over beside her, squinting to see if he could see what she saw, but to no avail.

“Crying?” He asked instead. “He’s still unconscious, though.”

“Not like that.” She told him softly, but with powerful earnestness. “He was crying like that before. Natsuki saw when she and everyone found them.” Souta decided not to ask how she could tell, especially when she continued. “But… He’s still crying now. Crying inside. Natsuki can feel it.” She stepped back from the window. “Masumi is worried about Chief and Ei-chan, too. He’s sad because they are sad.”

Blue found himself smiling a little at the certainty in her voice, even as he glanced back at the thin form in the bed beyond the glass, held together, it seemed, by needles and tape. “You know, Natsuki-chan,” He told her, “I think you’re right.” He put a hand on her shoulder gently. “And it’s up to us to make sure none of them stay sad, right?”

She gave him something that was almost one of her usual, bright smiles and nodded back, though at that moment they were interrupted by Sakura calling “Blue, Yellow!” from the main entrance.

As her teammates rejoined her, Pink turned back to the two medical techs who had just arrived. “Sorry to bother you so suddenly.” She told them quickly. “We’re actually trying to locate Seisuke-san. Do you know where he is?”

The two older men looked at each other. “Seisuke?” Grunted the gruffer of the two. “His shift ended a few hours ago… I woulda’ve assumed he’d gone home…” He paused, looking around at the three of them. “He’s not in trouble, is he?” He asked, then, nervous about the response, quickly added, “He’s a good kid, even if he is a little green.”

“He’s not in trouble.” Souta assured them quickly. “At least, none that we know of.” He tried to add a joking smile. There was no reason to alarum anyone with the whole reach of what they suspected, just yet. “We just wanted to ask him something.”

The men thought about it for a moment, and then the other one spoke up. “Well… Someone who might know is…” He motioned for them to wait, then turned to call over his shoulder, “Oi! Nobuyuki!” He turned back to the Boukengers as a third field medic came over. “Seisuke is his wife’s nephew,” He explained, then looked at Nobuyuki. “Hey, you have any idea where your nephew-in-law might have gone?”

Nobuyuki, however, shook his head. “I’m afraid not. What do you need him for?”

Sakura smiled as pleasantly as she could. “We’re just trying to gather information about the incident. Covering the bases.”

The man nodded seriously. “Well… To be honest… He was acting a trifle odd.”

All three Boukengers looked at him sharply. “Odd?” Pink managed to ask, dearly hoping she wasn’t going as pale as she feared she was.

Nobuyuki shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean… Well, usually, he’s abit clumsy—never in work, mind you, but if you asked the boy to pass the salt, he’d usually spill it all over the table. Today, though… When I saw him in the break room he was weirdly… Coordinated, I guess. Really formal, too…”

Souta’s hands were shaking a little, but he managed to retrieve his tablet, pulling up a photograph of the two Chinvat Rings they had already acquired. “Sorry,” He said quickly, “But did he have anything like this?”

The older man scrutinised the photo for a moment—then nodded slowly. “Yeah…” He said,and Sakura felt her hands tightening into fists at her sides. “Yeah, he was wearing it. When I asked where it came from, he just said it ‘found him.’” He looked carefully between them, at each of their anxious expressions. “… My nephew’s gotten himself into something, hasn’t he?”

Pink swallowed, finally nodding herself in affirmation. “It’s not his fault,” She explained gently, “We think that there’s someone, or… Something, using the Ring as some kind of conduit. Seisuke-san may be under it’s influence.”

The man sighed deeply, dropping his head into his hand, brows furrowing together. “Oh hell…” He growled, then looked up at them pleadingly. “I know crazy stuff like this is par the course with this place, but…” He bowed his head towards them. “… Please help him. He can be a bit foolish and irresponsible, but he’s a good kid! He’s really serious about wanting to help people. That’s why he signed on to work here in the first place. If anything happens…” One of his colleagues clapped a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

Sakura smiled, stepping forward to take his hand. “It’s okay. We’ll help him, I promise. Do you know where he went?”

But Nobuyuki shook his head. “No… He headed out toward the front is all I remember. Now I wish I’d asked…”

Sakura squeezed his hand reassuringly, then nodded to the other two. Souta paused to pat the older man on the back, and Natsuki bowed deeply, then both turned and followed her out while the other two medical techs set about trying to cheer Nobuyuki up.

The trio rushed into the front lobby. Sakura looked around, then turned back to the other two. “I’ll check the cameras, you two see if anyone saw anything.” She waited for them to acknowledge, then headed toward the security booth.

“Who do Natsuki and Souta ask first?” Yellow wondered, glancing around at the SGS employees of different variants spotting the foyer. “Not everyone knows about the Boukengers.”

Souta smiled slightly. “With the person who looks right at the door every day.” He said, then headed over to the front desk. “Waki-chan!”

The museum receptionist turned in surprise, briefly cocking a judgemental eyebrow at Souta until Natsuki trotted up beside him. Considering their expressions, she relented and came over. “What is it, Mogami-san?”

* * *

In the booth, Sakura scanned carefully through the footage as fast as she could, one finger drumming thoughtlessly on the desktop as if that would enhance her focus. Finally, she located the young medical tech on the cameras, entering the lobby from one of the staff doors, followed by…  She squinted at the screen, then her eyes widened. “… Oh no.”

* * *

Natsuki and Souta met Sakura by the door of the booth, both looking nervous. “Sakura-san!” Natsuki cried, rushing up to her. “Seisuke-san was-“

“I know.” Pink told her. “He left with Chief and Eiji.”

“More than that,” Souta said, coming over, “According to Waki-chan, they were heading back towards the caves.”

Sakura’s head snapped around. “What?”

Blue nodded. “Waki-chan told us she was leaving for lunch when she heard them talking by the staff door. She didn’t remember the details, but she’s certain they mentioned caves—and the connection is pretty clear from there. She also,” He added, pulling out his accellular and opening it, pressing the main call button, “Heard something about you telling Seisuke-kun to ‘tag along.’ Sir.”

Mister Voice appeared on the screen, looking indignant. “Voice did no such thing! Seisuke-san, or whatever is using him, probably took advantage of Chief Akashi and Silver-kun’s emotional states to lie. Had he been rational, Red-kun would have checked with me.”

Sakura sighed. “Never mind that now. We need to catch up with them. Mister Voice, please tell Makino-sensei to look for ways to exorcise something from the Ring!” Mister Voice mad another offended face and started to say something, but Souta snapped the accellular closed. With renewed purpose, Sakura squared her shoulders. “Locate Chief, Silver, Seisuke-san and the entity and proceed accordingly to ensure the safety of the team and other SGS staff.” She commanded, then snapped. “Attack!”

* * *

Seisuke shifted from foot to foot, watching both the Boukengers cautiously. Satoru had managed to walk them from the cave Masumi had transformed and untransformed in to the last cavern. Eiji hadn’t spoken a word since his revelation about Masumi weeping, and had had to be cajoled and pushed the whole way. The young medical tech was still looking around analytically, like he was searching for a specific dot on the wall—lingering just a moment on a pile of stones leaning against the back wall. 

Akashi walked over to the large dark spot on the stone floor, staring at it with his stomach twisting. The blood was almost entirely dried up, and he could see the colour in the light streaming in through the tunnel and hole that they team had created to rescue them. He could see where Mausmi had lain in the middle of it, for heaven’s knew how long before his two teammates came to their senses and found him. He wondered just how Black was doing, disconcerted by the fact that they hadn’t heard from Makino-sensei in several hours. He stepped as close to the dried blood as he dared, to where he had been when he’d awakened, closing his eyes against the light, trying to ready himself for the memory he was almost certain was coming…

… _Masumi was standing in front of him, holding his arms, saying something seriously, quietly, tears still running down his face. He couldn’t make out the words, but Black didn’t seem as panicked as he had been before. It wasn’t calmness so much as… Resignation. One of his hands cam up to Satoru’s shoulder, whispering something, gaze intense._

_Akashi’s own arm came up, his hand landing on Black’s shoulder—and he jerked Masumi toward him… Stabbing him in the stomach with the curved blade of the survival knife._

_Black’s body reacted to the stab, his eyes widening a bit and his form shuddering slightly, one hand briefly reaching for the source of the pain, but he made no move to try and pull the knife out or fight Satoru off. Instead, he raised his bloodied hand, pressing his palm to the front of Akashi’s jacket like a promise, his expression far too gentle, almost smiling—then the hand dropped as he sank to his knees when Akashi pulled the knife out and released him, blood seeping from the wound._

Akashi found himself on his knees, too, collapsed under the weight of realisation. It had been him. There hadn’t been anyone else. No set up or trick. He felt the blood on his hands all over again.

The cavern grew colder.

“I… It was me.” He choked out weakly, his voice finally breaking. Across the cave, he faintly heard a thump of Eiji sagging into the wall and then sinking into the floor, letting out a small, pitiful sob himself. Despite the chill, it felt as if the air in the cavern was thick enough to crush them both. “If he dies… Then I…” His voice left him.

Huddled against the wall, Eiji stared down at his hands, wishing they were someone else’s. He could see it to—less like a new vision and more just the veil lifting from another. It was so clear now, so real, what he’d seen when he’d reached for Masumi’s pulse…

… _Hands—his hands—wrapped tightly around his friend’s neck while Masumi did literally nothing to stop him, despite the constriction of his airway._

_When he finally let, Black even almost smiled before collapsing on the ground at their feet, laying still. His legs took a step backwards._

He tried to scream and get away from the image, but it came out as nothing more than pathetic retching sound and he only succeeded in falling sideways into the stone floor. He tried vainly to push himself up, his words coming through only to mumble “I did it I did it I did it…” Over and over under his breath.

The chill persisted, frost forming on some of the stones. For a moment, there was nothing but the guilt consuming them.

“No.” Seisuke’s voice was completely calm, slicing through the fog of panic though he spoke without raising his volume at all. He stepped forward to stand between them. “No,” He repeated, “You’re wrong. However…” He turned to gaze around the cave. “The true culprit is, indeed, here.”

He took both hands out of his pockets.

* * *

The stone shuddered as the fracture widened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooooh, how does one write an excited pterodactyl screech? We're getting there! I'm so excited! Though I never thought I'd be using a character taking their hands out of their pockets as a dramatic ending line...  
> Believe it or not, the originally story idea for this had a completely different character filling Seisuke's role, and I only created Seisuke because it would have been way more complicated to use that character and he would have needed way more explaining (said character was an OC I came up with for the series in general, and by this idea the team would have been regularly acquainted with him, which would have been hell to explain). But now, I'm super attached to this character. I really hope I did this right. ^^  
> I also just kinda decided to give Waki a disapproving streak towards Souta, and honestly, I like it.


	6. Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.  
> -Arthur Conan Doyle via Sherlock Holmes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We spend the majority of our time in the cave today! With just one break for dramatic effect.  
> As for the summary... I'm not sure that quote is entire applicable, but it sure sounds cool, doesn't it?  
> Please excuse any typos. I **definitely** wrote most of this when I should have been sleeping (hey, inspiration, what can you do?). I'm sure I'll go back through and fix some of them up later.  
>  And on that note (no puns intended, I swear!), I will probably add more notes later when I'm not a goddamn zombie. If that ever happens.  
> (or maybe not, since the ending notes are, like, and **essay** )

Silence.

Then, with what felt like a Herculean effort, Akashi raised his head to just enough to see Seisuke, silhouetted in the light of the tunnel. “… What?” The word was nothing but a shaking breath, a smear of fog in the unnaturally cold air.

“He’s here.” The young medic repeated rubbing his left hand, then looked directly at nothing. “I think,” He told the air evenly, “It’s time you showed yourself.” Reaching out with his left hand, he muttered something incomprehensible, and for a moment, his whole form glowed with an unearthly light, the brightest point his left index finger. There was a shudder in the air.

And a figure materialised from nothing right before their eyes, it’s arms raised like it was protecting itself from a gale.

Seisuke winced, then, snapping his hand back and cradling it to his chest, while the still semi transparent but also very visible figure lowered their own arms, revealing their face.

Satoru lurched upright on his knees to stare in shock. Even Eiji raised his head to gaze aghast. Eventually, Satoru’s voice broke through the stunned silence. “You’re…’

‘… Yami no Yaiba?”

* * *

“Makino-sensei!” Mister Voice called, appearing on the monitor in Makino’s office—then frowning when there was no answer. “Makino-san? Where are you?” No response. The room was empty. The glass of one of the picture frames on the wall was fogged completely over, words traced through the condensation.

Meanwhile, Makino hurried down the hall, carrying the tray with the Rings in both hands. “I hope you’re right,” He grunted as lights flickered on and off alongside him, “I really hope you’re right…”

* * *

“So, you do know him.” Seisuke mused, still clutching his hand, glancing between all three of them. “I thought so. It’s extremely rare to find a spirit harbouring such high levels of hatred for strangers.” He took a few steps over to stand closer beside Akashi. “He’s been following us since we arrived. I tried to put up some kind of interference when I first sensed him, but he was persistent.”

The translucent former Dark Shadow ninja chuckled nastily. “That’s right.” He sneered, voice echoing slightly. “I’ve been watching you the whole time; and what a show it was!” He laughed outright at that, a particularly awful sound, then sobered up to cast a nasty look at Seisuke. “I didn’t expect you to be so observant, though.” He shrugged. “But no matter. I’ve already accomplished my goal.”

“Goal?” Akashi wondered in bewilderment.

Seisuke stopped holding his left hand to set it gently on Satoru’s shoulder, and Red looked down to a familiar-looking ring on the pointer finger—the skin around it looking slightly burnt and sore. The third Chinvat Ring, shimmering a colour that was not gold, silver, copper, or even bronze in the streaming sunlight. The young man didn’t give him a chance to question it before speaking in the same steady tone as before. “It is he who is responsible for what happened.”

Akashi started, looking back over at Yaiba, who seemed to be watching them with interest. “Him?” He managed. “How? He’s…”

Seisuke’s hand vanished from his shoulder as the medical tech sighed, this time only hooking his thumbs into his pockets. “Dead, yes. But there are still things spirits can do.” He turned away to pace off into the cave a little. “I was suspicious from the beginning, but I hadn’t seen enough to be absolutely certain.” He turned to look between Satoru and Eiji again. “When we started going through here, I became more and more sure, between him stalking us, and the two of you only seeming to remember the more traumatic parts of the incident.” He raised his hand to point at Yaiba. “This spirit took possession of your bodies to attack Inou-san, and on top of that manipulated your memories to make the experience worse.” He cocked his head to the side. “Am I correct?”

Yaiba’s horrid, reverberating laughter filled the cavern again. “That’s right.” He declared proudly. “It was too easy.” He threw out his arms to gesture around the cave. “With the power this place grants me, it was a simple matter to enact my vengeance!”

“Power?” Satoru asked, dragging himself to his feet—then, when he wobbled, Seisuke stepped back over and caught his arm to steady him. But he couldn’t look away from Yaiba. “What do you mean?”

Yaiba folded his arms proudly. “Inou Masumi may have destroyed my body, but my spirit’s rage and shame were too great to pass on.” He began to pace across the stone floor, his feet gliding without really touching the ground. “So I wandered, thinking, plotting. Planning to how best get my revenge for my humiliation; during that time, my loathing for him, for all of you, continued to grow. And, one day…” He waved a hand around the cave again, “This place called to me.” Out of the corner of his eye, Satoru saw Seisuke scowl, but the young medic said nothing while the ninja continued. “The moment I arrived, I knew that this was what I had been searching for. This place kindled my hatred, empowered it! In here, it was effortless to set in motion the events to bring you people here.” Yaiba paused to laugh again, and it made Akashi want to throw up, though he’d eaten nothing since their rescue. “Just as I expected, you people separated into groups—and even more lucky for me, it was you two who came with him.” He pointed between Akashi and Eiji. “It would have worked with any of you really, but with the two of you… I was able to destroy Inou Masumi using two of the people he respected most!”

Satoru hated everything. That was the best way to describe the anger coursing through him—directed at himself still, for being too weak to resist, at Yaiba, for what he’d done, at the caves for somehow enabling it… He tried to rush at the ghost in anger, but Seisuke’s hold on his arm became abnormally strong, holding him still. “He’s a spirit.” The young man pointed out. “You can’t hurt him.” Eiji had managed to sit up against the wall; by his expression, he was trying to comprehend the concept of Masumi respecting him.

Suddenly, some of the things Masumi had been saying their memories became clear. _Give them back!_ Shouted his voice in their heads. _Give me my friends back!_

Yaiba watched their spectacle with malicious glee. “You see?” He proclaimed. “This is the weakness of your pathetic ‘bonds.’” He laughed again. “Even though he knew I was controlling you, that his own life depended on it. Your precious light is nothing but weakness.” He spat the word ‘light.’ “I used the two of you to herd him further along until I was certain your radios wouldn’t connect, down to this cave. All he could do was run and beg like a coward.”

“You’re the coward.” Seisuke’s voice shook them back to reality, sharpness entering his tone. The young man was looking at Yaiba with what was unmistakably a glare, though the ninja seemed unperturbed. “All you did was hide behind others.” He stepped a little bit around Akashi, keeping his hold on Red’s arm.“And even then you couldn’t succeed, so you resorted to even more cowardly tactics.”

Yaiba snorted. “I merely took advantage of the tools at my disposal.”

_Let them go. Please, just let them go._

Satoru forced himself to look at the young man questioningly. Seisuke briefly met his gaze, then glanced over at Eiji. “… The cut on your neck.” He explained softly. The reference made Silver’s hand move subconsciously to the bandage. “The other injuries are easy to explain if someone’s being pushed away, or trying to get out of a hold. But the cut made no sense—your medical staff didn’t find any trace of your blood on any of Inou-san’s things. Not even his nails. So where did it come from?” Seisuke heaved a solemn sigh. “The lady doctor checked everything just to cover the bases, though; in the end, she did find it—on the blade of the Sagaspear.” They both stared at him. “It could have been an accident, but the placing seemed like too much of a coincidence. And after listening to this guy talk, I’m quite certain.” He fixed Yaiba with another scowl. “You used his teammates’ lives to pressure him into showing himself.”

The dead ninja laughed loudly again as both Eiji and Satoru’s expressions were eclipsed with horror. “Like I said, I used what I had. It’s not my fault it worked so well. All it took was a little push and he gave up immediately. Just more evidence of how feeble the power of your supposed ‘light’ is.”

_I’m here. Okay? I’m here. Just don’t hurt them._

Satoru slipped out of Seisuke’s hold, dropping back to his knees. “Masumi…” He stammered. “Masumi… Surrendered…”

“… To… Save us…?” Eiji finished just as hopelessly, his hands dropping limply to the ground.

Where there had been anger, there was nothing. Only hollowness. They hadn’t just attacked Masumi. They’d failed him. Been used as leverage against him, and he’d traded his life for their’s. Yaiba might have been laughing again, but Satoru’s brain was shutting down, tuning him out; Eiji’s stillness and drooping head indicated the same was going for him. Cold numbness was setting in again, the world outside disappearing…

“He didn’t give up.” Seisuke’s voice was a sudden beacon in the emptiness. “Inou Masumi did **not** give up.”

All three of them stared at him.

“What?” Yaiba hissed.

He stepped around Akashi to walk a few confident paces toward Yaiba—who actually floated back a step. “He didn’t give up.” The medical tech repeated. “Rather…” He looked back over at Satoru and Eiji, giving each of them a long look. “… He trusted them. And they came through for him.”

“Trusted… Us?” Akashi mumbled, feeling his face frown in confusion. Eiji’s expression didn’t change, but he was watching. “And we…?”

Seisuke began to pace away from the ghost slowly. “There was something bothering me. An abdominal stab wound, strangling… Wounds like those should be almost immediately fatal. A cut aorta bleeds out in less than a minute, and there was certainly enough time to choke him to death. So why was Inou-san still alive when you woke up?” He paused, turning to face Yaiba again, folding his own arms. “So I checked the medical info. The stab wound to his stomach did nick the artery, but not enough for him to bleed out too quickly. There was significant damage to his oesophagus, but it wasn’t completely collapsed, air was still getting through.” He swivelled on his heel again to look at the two Boukengers. “There’s only one logical explanation for it.” He looked at Satoru. “That the person who stabbed him didn’t push the knife in deep enough to cut the artery enough, despite having ample ability and opportunity. And…” He turned his gaze on Eiji. “The one who was strangling him let go before he caused permanent damage. Because of that, he survived long enough for help to reach you.”

“But he still might die!” Eiji interrupted, his voice half shout and half sob.

“But he also might live!” Seisuke shot back with equal intensity. He looked seriously at both of them. “Even subconsciously, you did what you could to protect him, managed to keep him alive despite the spirit’s intentions. Your feelings for your friend were stronger than the spirit controlling you—they empowered you to stop yourselves from killing him. He put his life in your hands, and you gave him a chance.” The medical tech whirled around to face Yaiba again, pointing directly at him. “Your attempt at vengeance did nothing but prove the strength of their bonds and determination. Inou-san did not surrender—he put his faith in his friends, and their hearts were stronger than your will.”

Yaiba merely let out an angry snarl. Sitting on his knees, Akashi considered the words. It was true, when he thought about it. Even with his rather limited medical knowledge, he knew the basics of why abdominal wounds were dangerous. Masumi had had organ damage, had lost a large amount of blood, but… He could have, should have, died before Akashi and Eiji had even finished getting their bearings. He felt for his chest with one hand, closing his eyes. The thought of Masumi trusting them that much… His hand pressed over the spot where Black had left the handprint on his jacket. A promise. And then he understood what Seisuke meant. And it was like a veil lifted, like cotton came out of his ears. Suddenly, he understood what Masumi had said to him right before he’d knifed him.

 _It’s okay_. The words echoed in his head, cutting through the fog of guilt, regret, and pain. _It’s okay. Remember—I believe in you_.

His hand on his chest closed into a fist like it was crushing his heart back together.

In the corner, Eiji stared down at his hands, mulling over everything. His hands had tried to kill his friend. Again. But if what the medic was saying was true… He thought of the faint traces of a smile Masumi had flashed him before collapsing, his nigh composure during the whole affair. It must have taken tremendous willpower to not fight back at all, even while being choked—some sort of conscious decision to repress one of the most basic and powerful survival instincts. And all for faith in him? He curled his fingers back into his palm, forming fists. He wondered if he wanted to believe because it made it easier, or if it actually made sense, then concluded that it didn’t really matter.

Gritting his teeth, he reached back and found purchase on the wall, hauling himself to stand on his feet, raising his head again. “Okay, Masumi.” He murmured. “I’m going to believe in me just as much as you did.” He squared his shoulders, glaring straight at Yaiba, his legs only a little shaky. “This will not break me.”

Satoru chuckled slightly, a small smirk appearing on his face. Opening his eyes, he rose stiffly to his own feet, head high as well. “That’s right.” He agreed, stepping forward. “I was foolish. I doubted myself, and I doubted Masumi. But not anymore. You lose yet again, Yami no Yaiba!”

The ghost snarled again in disbelief, looking frantically between them. “This is… This is ridiculous!” He barked furiously, but there was a shake in his voice.

Akashi sighed deeply. “Out of all of us, Masumi understands best what it is to be unable to control your own actions, to lose your way and even hurt your comrades. I forgot that. I forgot myself.” He looked at Seisuke, who was watching with a smile that could only be called proud. “Thank you for reminding me, Seisuke-san.” There he paused, frowning as Eiji came over as well. “… No…” Satoru tilted his head a little to scrutinise the young man. “I think it’s become pretty clear… You’re not Seisuke-san, are you?”

There was a silence. Seisuke’s smile shifted into a slightly more amused expression, and he chuckled a little, shaking his head. “… No.” He said finally, with a small sigh of his own. “I am merely borrowing his body for a time." He raised his left hand, examining the Chinvat Ring on the index finger. “I am…”

Suddenly he froze. His eyes widened, and he spun around to look at the pile of stones by the back wall. “… Oh no.” He whispered, sounding genuinely frightened for the first time.

* * *

 

The stone split open, sending the rocks covering it flying to all corners of the cavern.

And the seal was broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooo booooy. Lot's of revelations here.  
> On the bright side, I don't think anyone was expecting the identity of our culprit, so good job on that, me, I guess. I'm not sure about the emotional effectiveness of this--worried it might be too rushed or not make sense... But ya know what. I'm gonna fix that later. Maybe. I generally pretty proud of how this turned out. And we are **so** not done yet. I've got couple more tricks in store here.  
>  Also, yeah, I think Masumi respects Eiji. Like, they're also Found Family brothers, but I feel like he admires not just that Eiji's, like, tough and a good fighter and all that, but his whole sense of purpose? Because Masumi is sorta just floating around apparently doing the treasure hunting thing for kicks (which is valid) until he meets Akashi, and then we get to the whole 'surpass Akashi' thing--which I think Masumi, at this point, is kind of disgusted with how that turned out, and he sort of sees Eiji as just been... A nobler person, I guess? Oh well. No one is here for my musing. ^^ Long story short, we know he greatly respects Akashi, and I felt like he genuinely respects Eiji, too, though maybe in a different way.  
> Random trivia is that I was gonna right 'the two people' instead of 'two of the people' but then I realised I'd forgotten Sakura. Because who doesn't always respect Sakura (funny aside Masumi totally does, though). Also hey, who remembers where that cut on Eiji's neck was? XD Yup, there's a reason I specified it was right above an artery.


	7. Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a purpose to everything, even if it is not immediately obvious, even if it is not us it effects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooo boooooy.  
> Lots of talking here. So, originally, I wasn't going to give the spirit possessing Seisuke a name, but then I was confusing myself with trying to describe him doing things, so I broke down and had him give his name. He does have a surname, but that's a little secret for now. ^^  
> Well, hopefully the adding the name makes it clearer. It's still says 'Seisuke's' a lot, but, well... I mean, it's his body, after all. Can't forget that.

“No!”

Seisuke, or rather the spirit possessing him, shouted in horror, and tried to start toward the stones at the same time they exploded, flying all over the cave. Akashi dove forward, grabbing him around the waist and pushing him down, ducking himself. When he was sure there were no more bits of rock flying about, he sat up and looked around for Eiji. Fortunately, he found Silver quickly, picking himself up off the ground, dusting off his jacket. Yaiba, ghost that he was, hadn’t moved at all, but was standing fixated on the sight the explosion of stone had revealed.

Satoru followed the dead ninja’s gaze. All that was left of the pile of stones was a singular boulder, with a circle of symbols crudely carved into the front, marked over with some sort of flaky black smear—or it had been, until the rock had split completely in two. He could see the outline of something at the foot of the boulder, but then there was movement under his arm he looked own to see Seisuke—for lack of a better name—was struggling to rise as well. Shifting his weight, he allowed the other man to get up, rising and reaching out to spot him when he wavered dangerously.

“No…” He gasped again. “No… No no no no no…” He tried to run forward again, butupon looking again at the broken stone, both Eiji and Akashi dove forward to grab him.

There was some sort of black smog seeping from the split boulder, bleeding into the air like an oily smear. As the two of them wrestled to hold back the spirit possessing the medical tech, the blackness grew large, swirling together to form a shape—some sort of large, horned shape with claws, that opened gleaming, slanted cracks in what might have been a face, leering over them all. Seisuke’s face was pale, his body reacting to the horror the soul within felt, gazing at the being with dread… And recognition. “… Emoirgon.” He spat.

“Emoirgon?” Eiji demanded. “What the hell is an Emoirgon?”

“An ancient being, not of this plane, that thrives on the negative energy of hatred and suffering. Hundreds of years ago I used my own life to seal it within this cavern to stop it’s rampage!”

Akashi looked sharply at him. “And you didn’t mention that earlier?”

“It wasn’t supposed to come up!”

**It has**. The being hissed, it’s voice ringing in their heads more than their ears. **And now I have risen once more**.

Yaiba floated towards it, still affixed. “That voice… You are the one summoned me! Granted me this power!”

**Indeed, that was I**. Replied the smoke-thing, which Akashi supposed was called Emoirgon. **Through the faults in my prison, I sensed your hatred, your desire for vengeance, and outstretched my hand to you**. **I knew you would be the one to free me**.

Behind the ninja, Seisuke stepped out of Eiji and Satoru’s hold. Akashi kept his hands out, almost afraid that he would start toward the stone and Emoirgon again, but he didn’t, merely standing and staring, some sort of realisation dawning on his face. “Don’t tell me… You planned this?”

In surge of grotesque, greasy fog, Emoirgon billowed forward, towering over the other three. **Yes**. It’s amorphous voice declared. **It was I. I knew that if you were faced with such a scene, your kindness and your own guilty conscience would not allow you to stand idly**. **The seal was already weakened with age—when your spirit left this place…**

Seisuke’s head dropped into his hand. “… It was diminished enough to break.” His foot scuffed angrily on the ground. “I am such a fool!”

Emoirgon laughed, an awful, indescribable sound, reeling itself back to focus on Yaiba again. **Spirit!** It cried. **There is still time to complete your revenge!** A sliver of smoke reached out toward the ghost. **Join with me, and our power will be beyond all else!**

“No!” Seisuke yelled again, starting forward again before either Eiji or Satoru could try to stop him—but Yaiba’s ghost had already extended his own arm, immersing his hand in the smog of Emoirgon’s form. The cave rumbled again, shaking even harder, and the being converged upon the ghost, swirling around him. Falling rocks cut of the other soul’s advance; when parts of the roof began to fall on them, too, forcing Eiji and Akashi to try and duck, he glanced back worriedly.

“The whole cavern’s coming down!” Satoru shouted, when the other man looked back at the now-shapeless black mass. “We need to get out of here!” He gestured at Eiji, who nodded, and they moved to grab Seisuke’s arms again.

Then there was an even greater shake, and the cave roof directly above them broke completely, a huge mass of rock dropping right toward them, with no chance to get out of the way.

“Damn it!” Seisuke’s voice swore vehemently, then he turned on his heel and dove at them, knocking them both to the ground. Akashi heard him yell something else, saw him start to glow again just as the rocks came down upon them.

And with a final few tremors, the whole cavern caved in.

* * *

They arrived in the last moments of the caves collapsing in on themselves.

Rushing from their Vehicles, the trio hurried over to the tunnel they had created with GoGo Drill before, only to find that it, too, was caved in.

“Oh no…” Sakura whispered, then began casting about the area. “Chief? Chief!” The other two quickly joined her, shouting intermittently for Eiji and Akashi. There was several moments of frantic seeking, coupled with desperate calling out, but to no avail.

There was nothing but silence. Not even the creaking of the stones answered them. Souta’s head bowed and Natsuki’s shoulders drooped—Sakura’s hands clutched slightly at her sides.

“Pink!” They all whirled around at the sound of Akashi’s voice. Red appeared from around one of the larger piles of debris, limping only slightly. All three of them rushed toward him with a chorus of ‘Chief!’—when Eiji appeared, half-carrying what looked like a severely exhausted Seisuke. Sakura went immediately for her SurviBlaster, but Satoru stepped in between them. “It’s okay.”

“But, Chief, he’s-”

“-Not Seisuke.” Akashi finished for her. “We know. But he’s also not our enemy.” He glanced briefly back at the other two as Eiji helped their companion sit down on a smaller rock, where he dropped his head into Seisuke’s hands again. Turning back to the other three, Satoru continued, “He helped me and Silver come to our senses. And… He saved us. He created a shield that saved us from being crushed, giving us a chance to escape.” He smiled a little, then remembered something, his expression darkening. “But we’ve got bigger problems. It’s a long story, but Yami no Yaiba is the one responsible for what happened—it seems his spirit was too obsessed with revenge on Black to move on.”

“Eh?” Souta managed. “Yami no Yaiba? I mean, I guess that makes sense, but…”

“We saw him ourselves.” Eiji put in, then hurried on just as quickly. “But the issue now is that he fused with something else—a being called Emoirgon. It seems to have increased his power.”

“Fused?” Natsuki questioned. “Emoirgon?”

Akashi nodded. “That’s right. It disappeared, but I don’t think it’s going to keep quiet for too long.” Turning, he walked back over to Seisuke’s side, looking seriously at him. “I think it’s time you told us everything.”

Seisuke’s head raised, glancing briefly at Satoru with a tired sigh. Then he stood and took a few steps away, his back to them. “… My name is Masashi. I am the original owner of this Ring.” He said, finally. “More than five hundred years ago, myself and my two companions were the protectors of this world, defending it from evil forces. It was to that end that we acquired the Rings.” Masashi took another deep breath, looking down at the Chinvat Ring on Seisuke’s hand.“When used properly, they could make banishing spirits back to the Underworld easier.” He took another deep breath, turning his gaze up at the sky. “I do not know how it happened that Emoirgon came here, but he was a being beyond anything we had ever encountered before, both powerful and malicious. He appeared suddenly, rampaging through the land, destroying as he went. Our usual methods proved useless against him. We spent many days and nights desperately trying to figure out a way to put an end to his atrocities; eventually… We found something.” His tone turned somber, Seisuke’s shoulders slouching slightly.

When he didn’t continue for a moment, Eiji sat down on the same rock, folding his arms. “If this thing is as bad as you say, it must have been something big.”

Masashi nodded Seisuke’s head slightly at Silver. “There was a way to seal Emoirgon. It seemed he had first appeared before, and our ancient predecessors had succeeded in creating a ritual that could lock him away for a while. However…” Seisuke’s mouth pressed into a line. “… It required a human life.”

There was silence.

“A life?” Akashi asked, at last, sensing Masashi needed prompting to continue. “Like… Human sacrifice?”

The answer was a glance and another grim nod. “It couldn’t be self-sacrifice, either. Someone had to be killed.”

The Boukengers exchanged glances. “So…” Souta finally began, in a small voice. “Were you…?” He trailed off when Satoru glanced at him, though the look wasn’t exactly a rebuke.

After another small pause, however, Masashi did turn on Seisuke’s heel to face them again, the medical tech’s face frowning at a painful memory. “… Not exactly.” He said, after a bit of deliberation. “None of us were willing to kill an innocent person, and it wasn’t our right to choose the fates of criminals either. Besides, a life is still a life, no matter who it belongs to. There was the three of us, but we didn’t want to kill each other, either.” Seisuke’s hands clenched into fists. “Bust something had to be done, and quickly. So I…” There was a pause as he struggled with the words. “… I did something cruel.”He looked at the ground, refusing to meet any of their eyes. “… I manipulated my friends into temporarily falling under the control of evil spirits so that they would attack me.”

The whole team started and stared at him, Eiji and Satoru exchanging their own glances. Eventually, it was Silver who found his voice again. “And… Did they…?” He gestured with his hand.

Masashi let out a bitter laugh, pacing past and away from them again. “… No.” He said. “No, they did the same thing you did.” Folding Seisuke’s arms, he faced the five again. “My plan only succeeded because I was conscious, and managed to get away from them before they came to their senses—I isolated myself in these caves, managed to set up the ritual, and waited to die. By the time they found me, it was too late.” His expression became far away and sorrowful again, and he continued to look deliberately just above their heads, twirling the Ring on Seisuke’s finger. “The Ring allowed my soul to linger. That… That was how I learned I had given myself the easy part.” With another deep, broken sigh, he turned away again. “My actions destroyed my comrades. They were forced to live with the knowledge that they had killed their friend. Even though they had been possessed, the guilt weighed insurmountably upon them. My soul was tied to the Ring, and could not leave this place when they left it here, so I only saw them a few more times afterward, but… They were never the same.” Another bout of emotion made him pause, hanging Seisuke’s head. “I have used the Ring to keep my spirit in this world and enforce the seal ever since.”

After another great pause, Natsuki wondered, “Why?”

A small, sullen scowl crossed Seisuke’s features. “Because I’m a coward.” Masashi replied, simply. “I was… I am too afraid that if I do go on to the afterlife, I will have to face my friends there. After what I did to them… I couldn’t bear the idea. That was my guilt to carry—regret for how I had hurt them.” He looked up at Satoru and Eiji. “When… When I saw you two going through something that looked so similar, I… I couldn’t do nothing.” His expression was tired, apologetic, and sad all at the same time. “It was I who reconnected your radio, using the Ring to alter the frequency of my aura to boost the signal, even though it shouldn’t have reached that deep.”

“So that’s why the signal was so weird…” Souta murmured. Then he mumbled more quietly, mostly to himself, “Makino-sensei and I managed to find a ghost with GPS?”

Nobody bothered trying to answer, especially when the spirit in question continued. “But I was still concerned. I could not let it go. So as you were leaving, I called out for help.” He laid a palm against Seisuke’s chest. “… Seisuke answered.”

Sakura felt a small smile slip onto her face. “‘He’s really serious about helping people.’” She quoted. “So Seisuke-san couldn’t even abandon a dead person asking for assistance.” Souta smiled, too, and Natsuki nodded.

Masashi, however, remained dejected. He began to pace once more, rubbing Seisuke’s hands together. “I didn’t realise that the seal was weak enough to be broken if I left, and I never even considered that even from his prison, Emoirgon could orchestrate this, just to manipulate me…” Finally, he looked right at them. “… Your friend was hurt because of what I did five hundred years ago. … I’m sorry.” Seisuke’s hands dropped to his sides, his brows knitting together.

They all looked at each other in nervous silence, until Akashi stepped forward, setting a firm hand on Seisuke’s shoulder. “It wasn’t because of you.” Red said resolutely, making sure to meet Seisuke’s eyes before he continued—and in that moment, he did sense someone else looking out of them. “It was because of Emoirgon.”

Masashi frowned slightly again, then looked around at the others, who all nodded as well—though some a little sooner than others.

“Though,” Sakura put in, "Why didn’t you just tell us this from the beginning?”

Masashi shrugged apologetically. “At the time… I wasn't sure. I only really saw the ending result. I wasn’t certain of what had happened until we were here, and then I felt the best way to reach them was to make them see the proper perpetrator for themselves.” He nodded towards Satoru and Eiji. “Besides… Would you have believed me? Trying to convince you of my intentions would have prolonged everyone’s pain.”

Souta thought about it. “Honestly… Between some new field medic taking a Precious without clearance and claiming to be possessed by the ghost of an ancient warrior and an unknown ghost with mysterious powers appearing simultaneously with Chief and Silver attacking Black… Neither of those are situations we would have had patience for. We did immediately jump to the conclusion that the spirit bound to the Ring was malicious.”

“SGS, too.” Akashi noted. "They would have ordered the securement of the Precious, preventing Masashi-san from ever explaining at all.”

Masashi sighed, looking down at the Ring again. “… They are dangerous in the wrong hands.” He admitted, Seisuke’s face falling into a serious frown. “… I do have to wonder what became of the other two.” The Boukengers glanced at each other for a moment, then Souta moved to speak.

And then the giant pile of rubble erupted.

Everyone quickly leapt clear of the new falling debris, squinting up at the shape climbing out of the collapsed cave roof. It was identifiable as Yami no Yaiba, but of darker colours, and clad in some sort of smokey, inky mantle and surrounded by an aura that seemed to blot out the very sunlight around him. He rose to his feet, standing at least twice as tall as he had in life, bearing down upon them.

“Is that… Yami no Yaiba!?” Sakura demanded.

**Yami no Yaiba? We no longer answer to that name.** Hissed Emoirgon’s soundless voice, ratcheting it’s way through their minds—though this time there was a second, more familiar, echo in it; two voices speaking at once, one slightly less terrible. **We have become one, and you will bow to our will**.

The figure raised a hand, darkness gathering in it’s palm, then cast a spray of black fire at them. Masashi darted in front, throwing up Seisuke’s hand and yelling an incantation again, summoning another shield around them—but when the flames hit, the shimmering veil shattered, the force sending Seisuke’s whole body flying, hitting the ground hard some way behind them, wincing and struggling to rise.

“Masashi-san!” The whole team rushed to his side, Akashi and Eiji crouching down to help him up.

**Useless. You could not defeat me before. You have no chance against us now**. Sneered the double voice in their minds, fire forming the entity’s hands once again.

This time the team rushed forward, Starting Up simultaneously, Akashi moving to cover Masashi—but even the Accell Suits sparked and burned when the blasts struck, each hit still incredibly painful. As the others pulled out their weapons and began firing on the giant form, Satoru felt a hand grab his arm, pulling him around to look back into Seisuke’s face, filled with Masashi’salarm. “They’re spirits, remember! Your weapons won’t hurt them!” The reminder was punctuated by another explosion, forcing them both to duck.

A cursory glance of the fight clearly showed that Masashi was right. The Emoirgon-Yaiba fusion was overpowering the other Boukengers with very little effort, the shots from the SurviBlasters going right through it. An arcing, powerful, burst of wind when it swung out it’s arm finally knocked them all off their feet—when it raised it’s hand to shoot fire again, Akashi pulled free of Seisuke’s hand, running to protect his team. Ignoring Pink’s worried call of “Chief!” Eiji’s “Akashi!” and Natsuki and Souta’s own cries of surprise and concern, he dashed in front, summoning the Bouken Bo as he went—one teammate on the brink of death was enough.

But despite his best efforts, the fire only intensified, forcing him to his knees until it finally broke through his defence. Black fire swirled around them, the heat becoming so extreme that even their suits began to melt and crack. A final blast knocked all of them several paces back and out of their transformations, dust and sparks floating about as they all desperately struggled to get back up as the figure advanced upon them some more.

“Boukengers!” Masashi stumbled over to them, falling to Seisuke’s knees beside Akashi. Checking where they had all fallen, he put up both hands, repeating the protection spell, a shining dome appearing above them, just in time to block a swing of the figure’s hand, intended to crush the team—but even the simple strike sent cracks running through the shield, making Masashi wince and Seisuke’s body shake like it was holding up a massive load.

Emoirgon laughed, a feeling like a hammer at the base of their skulls. **Noble fool. Still so desperate to protect others.** It raised a hand again, flames curling around it, preparing one last attack. **But this ends here.**

The flaming hand swung downward, the possessed medical tech the main target. Souta tried to throw himself over Natsuki as best he could, Akashi reached for Masashi, while Eiji and Sakura scrambled for their fallen weapons. No one quite made it. Another shockwave washed over them as the light dome shattered.

In the same instant, someone screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering why Masashi talks like a modern person despite being from five hundred plus years ago? Well... (nervous shifty eyes) It's because he's been hanging out in the cave the whole time, and he picked it up rom passing hikers etc. Also, he's got access to Seisuke's memory (also why he didn't know that SGS had the other two Rings, bc Precious info is need-to-know, and they didn't think the med team need to know), so... Yeah, that's my excuse for being a lazy ass. Get me writing some Renaissance England stuff and I can replicate language, but here... I just can't cut it, I'm afraid. Willing suspension of disbelief?  
> Other reveal is that yes, the possession was consensual. Masashi asked for help, and Seisuke agreed.  
> Some fun facts to cover up my abysmal failure at authentic language is that 'Emoirgon' is one of the alternate spellings of 'Demogorgon', which is why I choose it for this creature's name. Second is that Seisuke got his name because 'sei' is a possible reading of the Japanese kanji for 'life' and 'suke' is a possible reading of the kanji for 'help' according to the internet (it seemed simple enough to be believable). I poked around a bit to ascertain that it was an actual name, and though it's probably not actually written that way, that was the root of it—pretty sure why is clear at this point.  
> Lastly, sorry if this is weak and ramble-y. I did read most of it through and found it satisfactory, but it's always possible to miss things. We've still got some more to go, so I still don't know how many chapters this is gonna be. Think this is the longest one yet at a little over three thousand words, though.


	8. Miracles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where things are darkest, light shines the brightest—but beware the darkness does not grow in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooohoooooo! Chapter Eight!  
> Guys, we are almost done, I might actually finish this!  
> So depending on how long things end up taking, next chapter may be the last, unless I decide to include some sort of epilogue. Of course, things could also take drastically longer than expected, but we are legit almost there.  
> Question of the day is 'Capitalisation? What's that?'  
> (I think I mucked up the capitalisation at some points when referring to Zuuban; sorry about that, I wrote this when I should have been sleeping again)  
> Let's a-go!

Satoru blinked, head smarting, ringing in his ears. As his eyesight came back to him, Seisuke’s face appeared from what had been a mass of blurry colour, slightly scratched and bruised. He pushed himself up carefully, though it felt like he was pulling himself through deep water, dragging his way over to the medical tech’s side—which was only as far as he could see anyway. It took him a few tries to find the medic’s shoulder, and a few more to shake it, each movement still sluggish.

As the one beside him roused and pushed himself up, more of the worldaround them became clear. He searched around for each of his friends, only allowing himself to breath when they were all accounted for—bloodied and beaten, wincing and struggling to get up themselves. The ringing in his ears was fading slowly, his field of vision widening as well. He became aware of some sort of din in the background—banging, shouting. Beside him, Seisuke’s hand raised to clutch his head, and Akashi noticed a strange ring on his index finger. The haze in his head was starting to clear, too, his thoughts reorganising. The sounds became louder, more urgent. The sounds of battle.

Then he remembered what was happening.

Reality came crashing down—at the same time a bulky, golden shape flew past the corner of his vision, crashing into the dirt nearby.

“Zuuban!” He shouted, rushing to the Lemurian Precious’s side as he sat up, shaking his blocky head.

There were dark, burn-like patches on Zuuban’s shiny exterior, and he was covered in dirt and dust. Still, his tone was definitely chipper when he looked at Akashi and declared “Zun zun!” as the others limped and stumbled up behind Satoru. The golden sword dusted himself off a bit, looked up at them, then said “Zun zun Zuuban!” in a proud voice, and pointed a golden hand over their shoulders. The team all turned quickly, while Masashi got preoccupied by the Lemurian sword for a moment.

They were surprised to find the huge Yaiba-Emoirgon fusion stumbling a bit, nursing cuts in its armour that blazed with golden light.

 **A relic of Lemuria, hm?** The voiced mused. **A blade that can cut spirits… But not even this will save you!** It took a few steps back. **Fear not, spirit! Even this sword cannot harm me. We need only to gather more power, and we will be indestructible!** With one last snarl, it threw out a veil of fire and vanished away into smoke.

Tripping a little, Sakura and Eiji rushed forward to vainly try and see where he’d gone, while Natsuki ran around to crouch beside Zuuban. “Zuuban, you’re hurt!” She cried worriedly, letting him hold on to her shoulder and pulling him to his feet.

“Ban ban!” Zuuban replied, sounding rather dejected that time.

“I see.” Masashi mused, pacing around to examine the sword, tapping a hand to Seisuke’s chin, the medic’s face drawn in thought. “So the blade of Lemuria can harm spirits, but not Emoirgon.” He stopped in front of Zuuban, surveying the disfigured parts more closely. “Looks like he took some serious damage.”

Zuuban tried to step forward, shaking a finger at him with an indignant “Zuuban!” but nearly fell over, forcing Yellow to catch him and Blue to dive in and help, while Pink and Silver rejoined the group.

“They got away.” Eiji growled unhappily. “Can’t tell where they went.”

Satoru sighed. “I hate to say it, but that’s probably a good thing, with how that battle was going.” He turned to smile at Zuuban, setting a hand on the sword man’s shoulder. “You really saved us, Zuuban. Thank you.”

He got an enthusiastic “Zun!” in response, but then the Lemurian sword wobbled and nearly fell over again.

“Take it easy, buddy.” Souta told the weapon as he and Natsuki stabilised him again. “You took quite a beating. Not to mention…” Blue glanced around a bit, then looked back at Zuuban, frowning, “… Did you run all the way here?”

Zuuban’s head snapped up like he’d just realised he’d forgotten something, and began flailing about wildly, accidentally jerking free of Yellow and Blue’s support and falling over backwards.

“More importantly,” Sakura said, a little louder than usual to be heard over Natsuki’s worried squeaking as she and Souta tried to pick Zuuban up again, “That thing said something about gathering even more power. How are we going to stop it?”

“You can’t.” Masashi put in darkly, stepping away from his musing at Zuuban to move closer to them, folding Seisuke’s arms again. “If even a blade of Lemuria could not harm it, then there’s little hope for anything else.”

“You can’t do anything with the Ring?” Eiji asked, whil Zuuban teetered back to his feet—then tried to jump up and down and wave his arms, starting to say something again—only to flop forward on his face.

“It proved futile five hundred years ago, other than to push some of his energy around a little. Now that he and that spirit are empowering each other, I find it unlikely.” Masashi replied bluntly, then looked down to examine Seisuke’s left hand, “Besides, using too much of the Ring’s power alone would put Seisuke’s body at great risk. What I’ve done before is already having an effect.” Satoru followed Masashi’s gaze, and saw that the burns on the medic’s index finger had, indeed, gotten worse, spreading towards the knuckles. Behind them, Zuuban continued to flail about on the ground, this time accidentally smacking Souta and Natsuki in the face as they tried to help him again.

Akashi’s eyebrows knit together tightly. “So there’s no way to attack it?”

“We can’t just leave it to rampage again, though.” Sakura argued.

“We never found anything besides the sealing ritual—and to do that again would require…” Masashi trailed off.

“So… What?” Silver demanded, while Natsuki and Souta finally succeeded in pulling Zuuban back up, covered in even more dirt than he had been before. “What do we do? Just let him destroy everything?”

The words were followed by an uneasy silence, the only sound the scuffs and grunts of Souta and Natsuki heaving Zuuban back to his feet.

No one knew what to say.

“I don’t believe my ears,” Declared a voice above them, “The Boukengers, giving up on something?”

Everyone froze in shock—a moment which was promptly shattered when Zuuban let out an excited “Zun!” and rushed past them all to jump up and down excitedly, pointing at the ridge above them… And then falling over again. Even then, it was several long moments before either Akashi or Eiji had the nerve to look, though they knew exactly what they’d find—it was a voice they’d been hearing in their heads for the past few hours.

“Masumi!” Natsuki cried exuberantly, rushing over to grab BoukenBlack by the arm when he hopped down from the rock to their level.

He barely had time to set the containment box he was carrying down gently on a pile of rubbled when her pulling on his jacket destabilised him. “Ow! Natsuki, don’t yank my arm off!” Sakura and Souta hurried over to him as well, while neither Akashi nor Eiji had the nerve to get closer just yet.

“What are you doing here?!” Pink asked frantically, her voice relieved, concerned, and chastising all at once. “You were…”

“In Medical.” Souta finished, when Sakura trailed off. “Looking like a gh… Whiter than a sheet.” Blue changed the analogy at the last moment, shooting a quick look a Masashi—who just looked confused—then cautiously poked at Black’s arm. “Doesn’t seem to be an illusion…” He mused thoughtfully, then “What the hell, man, we thought…” He faltered for a moment, glancing briefly at Silver and the Chief, too, then finished more softly “… We thought you were gonna die.”

Masumi followed Souta’s gaze for a moment, his brows knitting together momentarily. Folding his arms, he took a few steps out from the other three, pointedly looking at the horizon for a moment. “Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no way I’d die from something like that,” He announced, perfectly mimicking Eiji’s speech patterns, then looking over at the other two with a small smile, raising an eyebrow, “Right?”

Eiji just stared at him for a moment, then smiled despite himself, shaking his head slightly. “… Asshole.” He muttered—then walked over and seized Masumi in a bear hug, clinging to him just a little. Black looked a bit surprised for a moment, then his expression softened and he hugged back, his hand staying on Eiji’s arm for a moment when they stepped back.

Finally Satoru’s legs carried him over, as well—and any concerns he might have had were assuaged when Masumi grinned at him and softly punched him in the arm; though he did still reach out to squeeze his teammate’s shoulder, just to be sure he was real, internally noting that, miraculously, Masumi didn’t flinch away from his touch. “… I’m glad you’re okay.” He managed, which sounded weak, but there wasn’t really much else to say. Masumi did look better—the bruises had somehow disappeared from his neck, and even his smaller injuries appeared to be healed as well. He was still a little pale, but at least he was the colour of an actual living person, rather than looking like a corpse. He wasn’t wearing his uniform jacket—rather a simple, completely black one that was probably a leftover from his pre-Boukenger days—but that was likely because the other one hadn’t been cleaned or mended yet.

Masumi smirked a little. “So am I.” He replied lightly, then folded his arms, striding over to look give them al a judgemental look. “But what’s all this? I’m out of commission for what, a day and a half and you all fall apart?”

Natsuki picked up a pebble and threw it at him, pouting. “Oh? Does Masumi have an idea?”

Black chuckled a little, unfolding his arms and crossing back over to the box, picking it back up. “Well, not me, exactly.” He turned toward Masashi, who had gone from looking confused to intrigued, staring quite openly at Masumi’s face. “Makino-sensei thought these might be useful.” He said, tapping the box to open it, and holding the contents out to the possessed medic. The rest of the team started in surprise.

Sitting on the collapsed box panel were the two other Chinvat Rings.

Bothe Seisuke’s hands dropped to his sides as Masashi’s stare moved to the two Preciouses. He opened and closed the medic’s mouth a few times, eyes wide. Stumbling forward a step, he extended a trembling hand toward the Rings for a moment… Then suddenly flinched back, looking even more shocked. “This… This is…!”

Masumi nodded. “Turns out you and Yaiba aren’t the only spirits about.”

After another moment of hesitation, Masashi reached out, this time with Seisuke’s left hand. Closing the medical tech’s eyes, he began to glow again—the light spread to the other two Rings. Shimmering shadows appeared over them, then spread out, swirling into shapes that were distinctly human; the two Rings floated into the air, worn by faint silhouettes of fingers. One of the shapes resembled that of a man in a coat and sword; the other was hooded, also male, and holding some sort of staff—though they couldn’t tell the exact shape of it.

Everyone else watched with awe, and Natsuki gasped loudly. “Oh! Natsuki can see them now!”

Masashi nodded. “Bringing the Rings together unites their power, increasing it, allowing them to manifest stronger, more substantial forms.” Seisuke’s shoulders shuddered, tears brimming in his eyes.Masumi hugged the panel back to his chest, stepping away to give the three spirits some space, walking back over to stand by Akashi and Eiji. “Oh, my friends…” Masashi whispered, reaching out to the two figures, hand shaking even more, the Ring shining brighter as he brought it closer. “… Could you ever forgive me?” Two translucent hands raised, gently laying over Seisuke’s, bringing the three Chinvat Rings back together. Masashi let out a broken sob, dropping to Seisuke’s knees while the other two spirits stood beside him, still holding his vessel’s hand.

When he began to cry in earnest, the whole team quickly looked away, moving over a bit to cluster together out of earshot of the ghostly reunion.

“While we have a moment,” Souta whispered, then looked at Masumi, “Actually, how are you out of the ICU?”

“According to Makino-sensei, the other two ghosts healed me.”

“Ghosts can do that?”

“I’m thinking we should stop questioning the things ghosts can do.” Akashi concluded. “But we do need to know more about that plan, Black.”

Masumi rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, then you’re going to have to wait, because I don’t know what it is. Apparently the spirits had the idea, and we couldn’t exactly talk to them about it. Unless you want to ask Zuuban.”

At that moment they were joined by the sword man in question with a cheerful “Ban ban!” as he hobbled his way into the circle.

“Whatever it is,” Sakura interjected, “We need it soon. That thing has probably already finished gathering power.”

“Yeah, but Zuuban could only hurt Yaiba and not the Emoirgon monster!” Natsuki reminded them.

“We may have an answer for that.” They all turned. Masashi had stepped away from the other two ghosts, turning his attention back to the team. “My friends thought of something I did not consider. If we combine the power of the Chinvat Rings, we should be able to create a hole in Emoirgon’s defence long enough for you to strike down the spirit he has merged with, using the Lemurian blade. We will only be able to maintain the opening for a moment, and it will be difficult because of their increased power, but…” His gaze drifted over to Red, Silver, and Black, just for a moment. “… I believe you can do it.”

“But what about Emoirgon himself?” Souta asked. “Zuuban wasn’t having any luck with him.”

A cool breeze ruffled around them—a refreshing one, though, rather than the frigid unpleasantness that had accompanied Yaiba’s presence—and they realised the spirit with the sword had moved closer, it’s hand moved, like it was gesturing while speaking, the obscured face turned slightly toward Masashi, who listened quietly for a moment before turning back to the Boukengers.

“Our theory,” He explained, “Is that because Emoirgon and the spirit have merged so completely, if we destroy one, it should, by extension, destroy the other. Emoirgon may not have thought of this because he cannot conceive the possibility of his own failure. In his arrogance, he will not expect this. However…” Seisuke’s face darkened slightly. “… We cannot be absolutely certain of this. It may very well fail.”

Satoru stepped forward a little, a small smirk slipping onto his face again. “That’s the adventure.” He replied. “We won’t know until we try.” He turned back to the team, specifically Masumi. “Masumi, are you up for a fight?”

Black responded with a chuckle. “Of course, I am.”

“Hold it!” Everyone jumped when a a voice came out of their Accellulars. They all hurried to retrieve them, flipping them open. Nakajima-sensei appeared onscreen, looking reproachful. Makino was floating by her shoulder, wringing his hands with a worried expression. “Not so fast.” The doctor continued, pursing her small mouth. “Inou-san’s sounds may have been healed, but his body is still quite weak from the ordeal and loss of blood. He’s in no condition to be doing anything drastic.”

“Nakajima-sensei!” Masumi groaned dejectedly, “Why would you betray me like this?” Nakajima’s only response was to push her glassed up with her thumb again, raising an eyebrow at him while the others exchanged amused glances.

Akashi smiled a little. “Don’t worry, Sensei,” He told her warmly, reaching over to find Masumi’s shoulder with his other hand, “We’ll look after him.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Black shoot him a look, but Masumi said nothing.

Nakajima-sensei sighed. “You’re going to do it no matter what I say, I know you all.” She said, finally. “Fine. Just make sure you all come back alive. I haven’t lost a kid yet, and I don’t intend to start now.” She gave them a stern look over her glasses to make sure they understood, then ended the call.

Squeezing Masumi’s shoulder one more time, Satoru turned and looked at Zuuban. “What about you, Zuuban? You up for this?”

Zuuban pumped both both fists in the air, nodding and repeating “Zun zun!” in affirmation before morphing back into a sword and flying into Akashi’s hand.

Red smiled down at the holy sword, then nodded to Masashi. “We’re in.” They earned a smile in return.

“Great.” Souta declared, clapping his hands together. “Now we just need to find them. It.”

“Uh… I… Don’t think that’s going to be a problem…” Eiji replied slowly, making everyone look over at him, even the translucent ghosts. He had walked off a little, and was squinting at the horizon, at where the countryside changed into mountains in the distance.

“What do you mean, Silver?” Pink asked hesitantly.

Eiji glanced back at them to see that they were all looking in the right direction, then pointed at the centre-most mountain of the view. “I’m… Pretty sure that’s not a mountain.” He said. “And… It looks like it’s getting bigger.” They all came up to stand beside him, following his point. For a short moment, the massive shape didn’t appear to do anything.

And then it stood up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zuuban and Masumi are back! Don't ask me where Zuuban was. I swear to god I totally did not almost forget about him ( ~~Zuuban I'm so sorry please forgive me~~ ). Also, hey Nakajima-sensei! And poor Makino who does nothing but stand there and look worried. Sorry, Nakajima is kinda a personality, so she can take over conversations.  
> I actually like this chapter rather a bit.  
> So the person who was screaming at the end of last chapter was supposed to be Yaiba because Zuuban showed up and attacked him. As for Zuuban cutting spirits... I don't know if he can technically do that in canon, since I'm pretty sure it never came up, but I just figured it'd be something a 'holy sword' could do. Also the scene with him in the back trying to get everyone's attention again was a whole lot funnier when I imagined it like it was actually an episode... Kinda like that scene from Rise of the Guardians when Sandy is trying to get the others' attention, but he can't talk, so her gets progressively frustrated.  
> Also, as for how the ghosts healed Masumi... I have no explanation for that. I'm sorry. Ghost magic. They pulled his soul back and lent it their energy to repair the damage to his body.  
> Also the joke about Masumi mimicking Eiji's speech is more funny is you imagine it still in Japanese, bc I was trying to reference the 'ore-sama' thing (like how he mimicked him during that episode with the mallet Precious).  
> The only other random related trivia that I can think to add to this is that Nakajima-sensei's tic of pushing her glasses up with her thumb is actually something I do, and I just added it to the character for giggles. It ended up fitting quite well with her personality I think, though.  
> I'm wondering if anyone is going to catch onto a little something else I'm setting up here... We shall see, we shall see...


	9. Bridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where the dead are going, no one knows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy cow, nine chapters guys. I'm amazed.  
> I actually really like how this chapter turned out. Or maybe I'm just on a high from other good news. I was really worried about the mech battle, but I think it came out okay. Little bit clunky in places, but hey, no one's perfect. Except maybe Kisaragi Gentaro.  
> Also, this is cheesy as hell, but I don't give a damn. CHEESE FOREVER!

“Oh.” Sakura said simply, having had far too many revelations already to truly react. “Oh shit.” Five of her teammates switched from staring at the giant to stare at her in surprise.

Satoru, however, didn’t miss a beat, stepping forward. “It’s no matter if he’s bigger.” He turned back to the others. “Board the GoGo Vehicles and buy Masashi and the other two time; when they create an opening, destroy the spirit of Yami no Yaiba using Zuuban!” He met each of their eyes briefly, then raised his hand and snapped his fingers. “Attack!”

It was expecting them, squaring its shoulders and turning to face the vehicles as they approached. The dark aura around the figure had grown, the ugly smog completely surrounding it, almost impossible to see through.

 **So you have come**. It threw a large wave of fire at them once more, this one scorching the ground and stretching up into the sky. **But this is still meaningless. You cannot escape fate!**

The black fire barrelled toward them, forcing them all to manoeuvre around it as they combined into DaiBouken and SirenBuilder, Zuuban becoming giant to stand beside them.“Fate has nothing to do with this!” Akashi called back, rising sightly to challenge the fusion before returning to his seat. “Let’s go!” They all grabbed the controls at once, surging forward and summoning GoGo Sword, Eiji and SirenBuilder right at their side.

On the ground, Masashi and the other two spirits found their way into a triangle formation, the former ducking and dodging around the debris and flames. The ghosts simply breezed to their appointed spots, hovering there and watching the huge battle above them as Masashi made his way. Finally, he reached his point, one of the little almost-cliffs dotting therocky area, setting his feet solidly on the earth, looking up at where the Yaiba-Emoirgon fusion was overpowering the two robots and Zuuban. “Boukengers!”

“We’re fine!” Eiji yelled, hauling SirenBuilder back up to its feet from where it had been knocked, while DaiBouken wrestled with the giant to keep it busy. The dark smoke was leaving black, burning marks on the GoGo Vehicles like it had with Zuuban, their casings cracking and sparking. A single palm strike to sent DaiBouken flying some distance, landing hard on its back and struggling to get up, body twitching, parts grinding from the damage.The being brought up an arm again, preparing to strike the fallen robot with another blast of flame—when Silver piloted SirenBuilder between them, shielding DaiBouken and taking thehit to the chest, leaving a huge, melted gash that exposed GoGo Fire’s mechanical interior. With great effort, Silver forced the controls around to fire on the giant, blinding it with a spray of water, Zuuban rushing in behind him to help DaiBouken up. But when Eiji repeated himself, shouting “We’re fine!” down to the three spirits again, which was quickly followed by affirmations by the rest of the team—even as the being began to push back against the water blast with a single hand—the lights on SirenBuilder’s head and shoulders flashed, and DaiBouken’s engines roared just a little louder, as if in agreement.

“We’re adventurers!” Akashi added, calling through gritted teeth as the team pulled the robot back up on Zuuban’s arm.

“This… Is what we do!” Masumi finished, raising GoGo Sword just in time to defend just a bit better from another attack.

A bit of a smile crept on to Seisuke’s face. Masashi nodded understandingly at them, then looked back down at the Ring on Seisuke’s left hand and the scarring around it. “It will be easier this time… Just a little longer, I promise.” Taking a deep breath, he closed Seisuke’s eyes, reaching out with his own power until he found the energy of other two points, connecting to them. As one, they raised the three Rings.

The being’s head snapped around. **What is this?**

The team leaned forward in their seats, looking down at the ground. A glowing triangle had formed around them, pale and unearthly, shinning some indescribable hue. After a moment, the light surged upward, swirling around them all, then spiralling toward the giant. Long tendrils of brightness poked at the shadowy aura surrounding it, where pushed back, then tried to pierce at the darkness again.

The giant laughed in both voices. **Pathetic! What do you listless spirits hope to accomplish?**

No one bothered trying to answer. On the ground, the three spirits merely glowed brighter, intensifying their efforts and energy. Glowing brighter and growing larger, the tendrils dove again at the being’s protective veil—and broke through.

“Look!” Sakura cried, pointing towards the giant’s chest. Whirling into a ball, the light expanded into a ring, pushing back the dark, creating a circular opening through which they could clearly see.

“Now!” Masashi yelled, raising Seisuke’s right arm to support the left one, wincing just a bit.

DaiBouken teetered, sparking on its feet, and SirenBuilder was shedding scraps of metal, but together they squared off against the giant once more. “Zuuban!” Satoru called.

“Zun zun!” Responded the sword man determinedly. Then his jewel began to glow, and he transformed back into a blade, flying into DaiBouken’s hand as they discarded the GoGo Sword.

Readying the golden broadsword, the team took a moment to gather strength before charging forward, lowering the point toward the circle. In response, the giant threw up an arm, casting a huge wave of black fire, sending them careening back. The darkness around it became blacker, and began to push back against the light, shrinking the circle.

 **This was your plan?** The being spat. **How futile. You will never reach me!** Waving its hand, it created a wall of shadow between them as DaiBouken floundered back up. The ring of light and the opening in the aura continued to shrink.

“That’s… What…” Akashi snarled, leaning into the controls, “… You think!” The robot sprung forward again, Zuuban in hand, SirenBuilder beside them—only to be caught in the shadow-wall, like in a net, darkness boiling around them, chipping at the armour of their Vehicles.

But they continued to press forward as hard as they could.

“Manipulating other people just to cause pain… That’s horrible!” Sakura cried, hand clenching on the thruster. DaiBouken inched forward, just slightly.

“Using Chief and Ei-chan to hurt Masumi…” Natsuki murmured intensely, then practically rose from her seat to shriek, “Unforgivable!” She pushed the lever upward with all her might. The robot gained just a little more ground.

“No matter what,” Souta declared, forcing his controls to their limit as well, “We will always stick by each other! That’s why we’re strong!” They made it another step.

“Your plan failed, Yaiba.” Masumi informed the being coolly. “I’m not the same person I was before. You’re not going to get to me like that anymore.” His tone was calm, but his grip on the handle was so tight his arm was shaking. DaiBouken crawled just a bit closer.

“You’re going to pay,” Eiji snarled, using both hands to drag SirenBuilder’s arm up, extending its hand, “For making me hurt my friend!” The hand came down on Zuuban’s hilt, and the two robots pushed forward together, backing the blade with their combined power. They trundled forward another bit.

“Yami no Yaiba! Emoirgon!” Satoru shouted, standing up fully from his seat, head high. Raising a hand, he pointed that the giant before them, uttering the next words with soft intensity. “ **This** is the power of light.” He threw his whole weight into the controls.

With a simultaneous shout, they burst through the darkness.

Zuuban’s blade flew through the opening just in time before it became too small, sinking deep into the giant’s chest in a mass of brilliant golden light. The being let out a roar of agony, thrashing about, but both DaiBouken and SirenBuilder held on, driving the sword even deeper, until… Cracks shot through the giant’s armour from the wound, glowing gold light seeping through.

 **No…! No!** The double voice bellowed. **We will not…!**

The spectral light retreated, no longer necessary, returning back to the source, curling around the three spirits for a moment before fading away. Masashi looked upward. “Yes.” He said, simply. “You will.”

The being exploded in a mass of golden beams.

* * *

They met the spirits by where the mouth of caves had been. Masashi was waiting for them, watching the sky tranquilly, turning and smiling as they came over. The other two stood a bit behind him, on the slight crest of one of the small hills, still only hazy outlines.

“I’m assuming it worked.” Satoru said.

Masashi chuckled slightly. “Yes, I believe it did. We can no longer sense Emoirgon; he appears to have been destroyed for good.”

“So he can never do something like this again.” Sakura concluded. “Good.”

“What about you guys?” Masumi asked, edging forward a little, looking between the spirits.

Masashi’s smile broadened, and he glanced back at his friends as well. “We move on.” He told the team happily, turning back to look around at them all. “… Thank you. Because of you six, we were able to find each other and make peace with our past. Now we can at least be free of guilt and pass on unburdened.” He sighed softly. “And now we also know that even without us, the world will be protected.” He looked proudly at each of them. “We know that all of you can defend it from darkness.”

Akashi stepped up beside Masumi. “Always.” He promised, reaching up to clap a hand on Black’s shoulder again. Eiji meandered over to stand close by as well, neither of them particularly wanting to be too far from Masumi for the moment. For his part, Black noted both of their proximities, but said nothing nor tried moved away.

Masashi laughed again. “I know you will.” He told them, then looked down at the Ring on Seisuke’s hand. “I do have two favours to ask you.” He turned the Ring on the medic’s finger again. “The first is to look after the Rings. My companions and I used them for good, but they can be very dangerous in the wrong hands.”

Souta, standing beside Natsuki, grinned. “Don’t worry,” He assured Masashi, “It’s what we do.”

Yellow nodded eagerly. “That’s right! Natsuki and everyone will be sure to keep them together, too.” That got her a particularly grateful smile.

“What’s the other favour?” Silver asked, folding his arms and tilting his head curiously.

Masashi sigh a little again. “… Thank Seisuke for me.” He said. “Without him… None of this would have been possible.” He paused in thought for a moment. “And… Tell him I’m sorry for any trouble I caused.” They all nodded.

Masashi glanced around one last time with a smile, then raised Seisuke’s left hand. The Ring floated upward, slipping off the medical tech’s finger; there was a fluttering in the air around him as a shimmering silhouette left his body. The young man’s eyes drifted closed, and he sagged, collapsing forward. Sakura managed to catch him before he hit the ground, Souta dropping to kneel beside them to check on him, nodding to Akashi to assure Red that the medic seemed to be alright. Satoru let out a small breath, that final concern alleviated.

Then Natsuki gasped. “Look!” She pointed, and they all followed her finger.

Stretching beyond the hill in front of them was a massive bridge. It gleamed brightly, but didn’t seem to be reflecting sunlight. The surface was amorphous, shifting, moving, and metallic, but not the hue of any recognisable earthly metal. It was intricate and elegant, spanning away into the far distance, disappearing over the horizon. At its foot were two incredibly life-like dog statues, sitting proudly upon two pedestals, gazing forward with four eyes each, eyes that seemed to spark with life within the stone.

But that was not all. Upon the hill slope, the three spirits’ forms had solidified as they turned toward the Bridge, no longer mere outlines when so close to the other side.The hooded man’s robe was black with silver accents, trails of brown hair poking out from beneath the hood; his sword-bearing companion wore a vibrant red mantle, the back marked with a dragon crest, dark hair cut short; Masashi’s clothes were the simplest—pure black right down to the bracers on his forearms and the hair tied back in a ponytail, carrying no visible weapon.

“That’s…!” Eiji started, staring in particular at the hooded man. The staff in his hand was… A familiar shakujō.

Hearing their reactions, the three ancient spirits turned to look back.

There was a shocked silence. Then, “Ne…” Natsuki stammered softly, prying her hands away from where they’d flown to her mouth, “Don’t they…” Extending her hand again, she slowly pointed from the spirits, “… Don’t they… Kind of look like…?” Her finger traced back to her three standing teammates, who were all staring in astonishment.

And they did. Even with a few years and lines added, the resemblance was undeniable.

Apparently seeing the surprise and recognition on their faces, Masashi smirked slightly—and they suddenly realised that it was a frightfully familiar expression, now that they could see it on his true face. The other two smiled as well, those looks also eerily similar. The three exchanged a knowing glance, then all turned back again, walking purposefully toward the Bridge. The moment they stepped upon the surface, the whole image began to shudder and vanish—within a few steps, both they, and the Bridge, had almost entirely faded from sight.

Just before they disappeared completely, the wind picked up, blowing around the team, whispering one last message in their ears. _Perhaps…_ It murmured in Masashi’s voice, _Perhaps it_ ** _was_** _fate that crossed our paths, after all…_

And they were gone.

 ****For a moment, the three Chinvat Rings hovered in the air where the Bridge they had come from had been.

Then they dropped to the ground.

One by one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we say goodbye to the ghosts! Have a good afterlife, guys!  
> If you're wondering where Zuuban if, he's resting. That fight took a lot out of him. I realise that it's kinda odd for them to be using the Chinvat Bridge, but I'm personally of the opinion that it's all connected anyway. Speaking of connected, I did a lot of deliberating with how detailed to be with that little reveal at the end; I think I like the midpoint I went with. I don't know why I stuck those little implications about the GoGo Vehicles being semi-aware in there, I guess I just really have thing for sentient equipment? Who knows.  
> (Also, who caught Satoru's callback during the fight?)  
> I'm thinking we might cash out at ten chapters, depending on how the last one plays out. It's probably gonna be much shorter regardless. Just some last few threads to tie up.  
> Wow, these notes are super short compared to every other chapter, how did that happen? Maybe it's because I'm in such a good mood that I'm not worrying about things so much... Or I'm just... Not as tired.  
> Final little tidbit? It's snowing outside my window right now as I post this. But I am wearing a nice wool sweater. ^^ <3 Let winter commence.


	10. Task Complete

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing ever really ends—because time will always keep turning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!  
> OH MY GOSH I DID IT.  
> Now I just gotta work on my other stuff. Maybe. One day.  
> Maybe.  
> The author realises it's been a while, and the author apologises. The author has not had much time to write. What has the author been doing, you ask? A valid question. The author has been working, getting grievously ill, working despite being grievously ill, trying to work out schedules, losing their voice, trying to sleep, and wandering around the house referring to themselves as 'The Boulder' because their voice was all deep and gravelly (no puns intended, I swear, that's just the best word to describe it).  
> But, without further ado, on with the chapter!  
> (please excuse any typos—even when I proofread I miss things)

Everyone was silent, gazing in wordless astonishment, frozen where they were.

Finally, slowly, like he was moving through deep water, Satoru managed a step forward, then another. Eiji and Masumi soon followed him, equally as cautiously. The three made their way up the little slope; at the top, after a bit of searching, they found the Rings in the grass, picking them up gingerly. They were warm to the touch, and despite appearing solidly metal, the material felt like it was giving and ebbing slightly beneath their fingertips. There was something else about them, too; a certain… Familiarity—like seeing an old friend again after many years.

The trio stood still on the hill crest, transfixed for a moment by the feeling, the others watching them from below.

A quiet groan broke the spell, making everyone jolt back to life and look around for the source. They found it quickly when Seisuke shifted in Sakura’s hold, mumbling incoherently.

“Seisuke-san!” Pink cried, as everyone else—with varying degrees of efficiency—clustered around them. “Can you hear me?”

Seisuke groaned again, then his eyes slowly fluttered open. It took him a moment to take in the situation, but when he did, he let out a small yelp and tried to sit up quickly—banging his head into Souta’s on the way up. After a moment of scrambling where Blue got out of the way, rubbing his forehead, the young medic had another go, clutching his own head and wincing. “Sorry…” He stammered, nodding his head first to Sakura, then Souta. “I’m a little…” He tried to get up, but either slipped on some pebbles or his arm gave out and he almost fell all the way over again. He stabilised himself, but the whole team still reached out to spot him just in case. “… Uncoordinated sometimes.” He finished, then sighed dejectedly. Finally, he resorted to just sitting on the ground, blinking innocently around at them all.

“Well, uh…” Satoru started slowly, trying to decide what to say, “… How are you feeling?”

Seisuke thought about it. “I’m… I think I’m okay.” He said finally. “Just…” He lifted his left had to look at it—the greyish burning and scarring had spread rather a bit around his index finger. He bit his lip, turning the hand to survey the damage. “… Smarts a little.” Suddenly, he remembered something. “Oh!” He looked at Akashi and Eiji. “That ghost! Did he do what he needed to do?”

The young man’s expression was so concerned and honest that Satoru had to smile at him despite himself and the lingering shock. He crouched down to the medic’s level. “Yeah, he did.” He assured the medical tech. “And… He told us to thank you for him.”

Seisuke blinked in surprise. “I… I didn’t do anything, though.”

“Yes, you did.” Eiji interjected gently., then added, “And… Thank you from us, too. If you hadn’t helped him…” He trailed off, expression darkening and shaking his head. Masumi shot both him and Akashi slightly worried looks.

Seisuke still looked confused for a bit, then smiled cheerfully. “I don’t really get it, but… You’re welcome!” He looked around. “I, uh… I think I can get up now.” He told them. After a few tries, he did, indeed, get to his feet—though he still wobbled a little, and nearly slipped and fell right back down after the first step.

Natsuki caught him this time, giggling. “You really are clumsy!”

The young man bit his lip again, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “I’m not like this usually, I promise.” He insisted as she began to help him back towards the Vehicles.

Sakura and Souta got to their feet as well. Souta started immediately after the two, but the Sub Chief paused to look at Akashi. “We can go over everything back at base.” She said, then, “The Rings-”

“Right here.” Satoru assured her, holding up the one he was holding. Masumi retrieved the containment box, passing it to Pink, and they each set the Ring they held inside it. She tapped the button so that the box formed around the three Preciouses, then nodded affirmatively before turning and following after the others.

The instant she and the rest disappeared into the circle of the parked GoGo Vehicles, Masumi wobbled a little, clutching his head—then made a noise that sounded decidedly like a whimper and plummeted toward the ground.

Both Satoru and Eiji dove in and caught him by the arms, pulling him back up and supporting him when his legs gave out again and he almost dropped back down.

“Sorry…” Black mumbled, sounding slightly slurred. “I guess Nakajima-sensei was right… I’ve got no energy…”

Akashi shook his head. “Were you holding this in the whole time?” He grunted. Masumi merely muttered another hazy apology and sagged even more. Satoru looked up at Eiji over their weakened teammate’s head with a sigh. “Come one. Let’s get him home for now.” Working together, they carried and dragged Black back towards the Vehicles.

* * *

They returned to find Makino, Nakajima, and Nobuyuki waiting for them. The older man grabbed his nephew in a tight hug, then scolded him empathically, then hugged him again, practically in tears the whole time. Seisuke looked decidedly bewildered, but hugged him back readily, then agreed politely when Makino expressed the desire to question him about the experience.

Nakajima, however, immediately descended upon the rest of the group, and began herding them toward Medical in record time. She soon had all of them all under the watchful eyes of herself and her nurses while their injuries were checked and treated; and when Eiji and Satoru refused to leave Masumi’s side, she had chairs dragged over and forced them both to sit in them so that she could examine them.

“Pushing yourselves too hard again…” She grumbled under her breath while finishing with a gash on Satoru’s forehead. “Can’t any of you do things by halves…” When he opened his mouth, she leaned back to shake a finger in his face. “I swear, if you say something about ‘adventures’…!”

Eiji chuckled a little as she packed up her equipment. “Nakajima-sensei still hates adventures?”

“Only when equated with recklessness.” She replied, zipping up her bag and setting the last thing down on the cart beside her. “Okay, all done for now. At least until the next time.” She sighed softly, glancing over at Masumi on the bed, wearing a few new bandages from fresh injuries. “You two can stay in here. I’ll tell the others they can come in when the rest of the staff is done with them.” Grabbing the handle of the cart, she started toward the door, then paused while reaching for the doorknob. Thinking for a moment, she pulled a little book out of the breast pocket over her coat, opening it. She produced two sparkly smiley face stickers, then walked back over to stick one on Eiji’s forehead and the other Akashi’s shoulder.

“What the…?” Silver reached up and poked at the sticker curiously.

Nakajima smiled, an expression that deepened the lines in her face in a much more pleasant way than her scowl. “That’s your reward for not dying.”

“This is a sticker.”

“Well, I don’t have much else.” She replied. “Appreciate the simple things occasionally. Sometimes even people like you guys need a breather.” Returning to her cart, the doctor replaced the sticker book in her pocket. “I’ll send the others in,” She repeated, and left.

They sat in silence for a long while, thoughtfully examining their stickers as an excuse to not look at each other for a bit.

“Do you think he was right?” Eiji said eventually. “Masashi? About Masumi… Trusting us?”

Satoru considered it. “It’s certainly something I want to believe… But with Masumi’s past… It might have been more complicated.”

“Are you two… Really still on about this?”

They both started at the sound of a faint, tired voice, then looked toward the bed. Masumi’s eyes were open, and his head turned just a little to give them a particularly judgemental look; one that was just such a particular brand of Masumi that Akashi felt the urge to smile in relief. Hobbling up, both he and Eiji made their way closer to the bedside, Silver sitting down on the mattress by Black’s knee—laying a worried hand on it—while Satoru pulled up a chair beside his head, reaching out to softly set a hand on Black’s shoulder; there was another wave of relief when Masumi still didn’t reject the contact.

Akashi took a deep breath to prepare himself. “We…” He began, glancing briefly at Eiji to make sure Silver knew he could jump in if he wanted, then continued, trying to keep his voice steady, “… We thought we might have… Killed you.”

Masumi said nothing in reply, merely turning his head to look at the ceiling.

After a long silence, Satoru finally asked, “… Why’d you come out?” The words practically forced themselves out of his mouth, and once he’d begun he couldn’t stop. “You knew he was after you. It was safer to stay hidden. Is it really because you…” He and Eiji looked at each other briefly again. Red swallowed before continuing. “… Masashi said it was because you trusted us.”

Masumi frowned thoughtfully, chewing his lip. “I… I guess it ended up that way.” He said at last.

“Ended up?” Eiji questioned, brows knitting together.

Masumi shifted nervously, eyes still fixed on the ceiling rather than his teammates. “Well… I guess… My first thought was that I couldn’t let him…” He trailed off, pressing his lips together sourly—probably trying to think of a way to think of the least embarrassing way to continue. “It was that… Well… The worst case scenario for showing myself and taking the risk was preferable to the worst case scenario for not showing myself and escaping alone.”

Satoru scowled. They were going to be discussing that statement in detail later—but this wasn’t the time. “You took a **huge** risk.” He scolded instead.

Finally, Black looked at them. “You think so?” He wondered, reaching up stiffly to scratch his head, face thoughtful again. “I mean… It was you two. I figured that if anyone was gonna break through being possessed… It would be you guys.” He realised they were both staring at him. “And… Now you’re making me uncomfortable.”

“Oh, really? **Now** we’re making you uncomfortable?” Eiji grumbled, throwing a hand in the air, but there wasn’t really any animosity in it. More amazement, actually.

Satoru took another deep breath, getting ready to say something else, when they were interrupted by the door. “Masumi! Ei-chan! Chief!” Natsuki bounced in, followed by Sakura and Souta. All three of them were bandaged up, bruises settling, and each had a little, shiny smiley face stuck to them somewhere—they all set about finding places to sit while Masumi reached out and grabbed Eiji’s forearm to pull himself up, Akashi reaching out to stabilise him when he wobbled.

“You guys okay?” Black asked, glancing at each of them with concern.

Souta grinned. “Sou sou Souta!” He announced cheerfully, giving a mock salute.

“We’ll be fine.” Sakura promised, smiling as well, while Natsuki nodded enthusiastically.

Masumi’s shoulders seemed to relax a bit, and he leaned back against the headboard. “… That’s good.”

“We got ourselves into a right pickle this time, didn’t we?” Souta remarked, tapping his fingers together. “Well, now at least we can put ‘destroyed unimaginable extra-dimensional evil’ on our resumés…” While everyone else chuckled at that, one of his hands slipped over to lay on the bed close to where Masumi’s was, just barely touching.

Natsuki nodded. “And Seisuke-kun is okay. And Masashi and friends can rest in peace.” She’d elected to pull up a chair by Satoru, one arm snaking forward to grip tightly at Masumi’s sleeve.

“A successful mission.” Sakura agreed, from where she sat on Eiji’s other side, by the other end of the bed. Her hand had also snuck over to rest inconspicuously close to Black’s foot. “And Makino-sensei stopped by after he finished talking to Seisuke-san; the three Chinvat Rings have been secured are being transferred to the Precious Warehouse, where they will remain.” She reported. “He’s just finishing up the files.”

“He’s also seeing if he can dig up any info on your ghost lookalikes while he’s at it!” Natsuki chimed in, cupping her face in her free hand, elbow balanced on her knee.

Masumi, Eiji, and Satoru exchanged looks. They hadn’t taken the time to discuss the spirits’ appearances.

“He’s just checking it out a bit.” Pink said quickly, added in the slightly awkward glances. “There’s not much to go on, other than Masashi’s name and the possibility that one of them was one of Takaoka-kun’s ancestors.”

Souta nodded along with her words. “That’s right.” He agreed with another smile. “There’s no guarantee he’ll find anything.”

“Or…” Interrupted a voice behind them. “I might have found them.” They all turned to look at the door. Makino-sensei had come in quietly while they were talking, and he made his way over to them, two thick sheets of paper tucked under his arm.

“What do you mean?” Satoru asked.

The professor took out the paper, holding up the first sheet for them to see. It was a photograph of a painting—three figures posed on a mountain side, one gazing over the edge toward a town below, staff in hand; the other at the sky, a palm resting on his sword hilt; the third looking back, right out of the canvas. Silver, red, and black.

Even the painted faces were clearly identical.

“An SGS contact, an old antique collector, found it in his grandfather’s house after he passed away—according to records, seems his family acquired it through trade many years ago. When I described the spirits to him, he got very excited and sent me pictures.” Makino told them.

“Was there any information attached?” Sakura wanted to know.

The professor nodded, pulling out the second sheet, which was a photo of the back of the painting, with the bottom left corner magnified—revealing words, written in careful, tiny strokes up against the edge.

Enlarged, they were legible. “‘The Three Wardens of Evil.’” Souta read aloud slowly, leaning a little closer to see better, hand staying by Masumi’s. “‘The Sentinel of the Ashu,’” He nodded a little towards Eiji, “‘The Dragon Keeper,’” A glance at Akashi, “And ‘the Shadowguard.’” At last his gaze trailed back to Masumi.

“With the titles, I found a little more.” Makino informed them. “Not much, of course, but some. It seems that the duties were handed down in all three families—but Masashi, the Shadowguard,” He put the picture of the painting back up and pointed to the face of the man in black, “Disappeared abruptly—well, as we now know, died—before he was able to pass on the job, pretty much ending the legacy there.” He moved to point to the man in red. “The Dragon Keeper’s office—I’m afraid I couldn’t find a proven name—goes on for a few more generations, until the dragons start to disappear. That may have been Ryuuwon amassing power, but who knows. Anyway, eventually, the need for the position is gone, so that family tradition soon fades away as well.”

“Leaving only the Takaokas…” Eiji murmured softly. “And as we dwindled, their stories were lost, too.” Sakura’s other hand lighted softly on his shoulder, and he shot her a small, grateful glance.

“Until now.” Souta amended, more cheerfully. They all nodded in agreement, but the words were followed by a long pause, until—

“Natsuki is hungry.” Yellow announced, with just a little bit of a pout, snapping any remaining tension out of the air. With a laugh, Makino set the pages aside and promised to fetch them some food, SGS’ treat.

After that, it wasn’t long before their conversation returned to it’s more usual tempos. Nakajima-sensei bustled in at one point to check up on them and pinch Souta’s ear slightly when he asked for another sticker. Seisuke and Nobuyuki came by to see how everyone was and apologise, though they were both quickly reassured the second part was unnecessary. Makino returned with a plethora of food—though Nakajima gave strict orders to keep it in the room. The team stayed huddled together by the bed, everyone still holding on to Masumi in one way or another.

And not once did he shake them off.

“Attention, everyone!” Announced Mister Voice, appearing on a wall monitor, ignoring their starts of surprise at his interruption. “I’m glad to see everyone is alright.” He continued without waiting for them to fall completely silent or finish chewing. “I just wanted to personally inform you that the Chinvat Rings have been safely received and stored—together.”

Natsuki beamed. Masumi sighed, frowning a little. “I suppose that’s all we can do for them.” He mused, a little drearily.

Satoru had to nod. “Given how long it’s been, and the state the caves are in, it would be incredibly difficult to excavate Masashi’s remains—and that’s assuming they weren’t destroyed during the cave in.”

“Not to mention,” Sakura added, “We have no way of knowing where exactly the other two, or where they would have been buried, if they even were.” Her voice took on a sorrowful edge. “Physically, they’ll always be separated.”

“But…” Natsuki said brightly, still grinning, “It feels like the Rings being back together… Like that’s Masashi and the others back together, too. Even if their bodies are apart.” She looked around at them all. “… Right?”

Everyone nodded at that, too.

* * *

In her office, the girl watched the team on her computer screen.

“Indeed…” She murmured to herself, too softly for her voice equipment to pick up. “The Chinvat Rings are together again, and so are their masters’ spirits… But I think…” With a few clicks on her monitor, she narrowed the camera view to focus on three of them in particular. “… That part of them was  **already** reunited.” Smiling, then, she took one last look at the three Boukengers, before closing the capture. Leaning back in her chair, she turned her attention to a file on her desk containing photos of two of the Rings, with a clipped-on picture of the third. Shutting it, she rose, taking it back over to the cabinet and tucking it into a drawer marked ‘completed.’ On her way back to her seat, she paused in front of a large frame on the wall, newly rehung.

The painting of the three Wardens.

She stretched out a hand, fingertips hovering just above the glass, tracing from one figure to another. “Takaoka, Akashi, Inou…” She dropped her hand back to her side, sighing sadly, but also in relief.

“… I kept my promise.”

* * *

The Boukengers all spent the night in Masumi’s room in Medical, spread out around the room, but each positioned so that they could see and reach each other if they wanted—but they all slept soundly and well.

For there was a distinct sense of tranquility in the air, as if the universe itself was more at peace for the evil they had just defeated, and they welcomed the calm gratefully.

Because there would still be much to do in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy cow, we're done. We did it.  
> Curious if anyone's gonna make the connection about that little reveal at the end there. How many history buffs do we have who read the Boukeneger manual, hm? ^^  
> So, yeah, happy ending. Though Satoru and Eiji are now a little concerned about Masumi's self-preservation instincts—or rather, apparent lack thereof.  
> Poor Masumi, too. There's probably still gonna be some lasting trauma. I hope what he was saying made sense. I just figured that, well, given the situation, he'd be going through a whole range of feelings rather than just immediately deciding to go with that plan. If that made any sense, either.  
> But, well, that's all she wrote. I actually finished something. And it's fairly decent.  
> This may be the greatest day/night of my life.

**Author's Note:**

> I gotta wonder if I'm spoiling it for people with that title, but it's too perfect.


End file.
